EMPLOYERS  AND  EMPLOYES 


Full  Text  of  the  Addresses  Before  the  National 

Convention  of  Employers  and  Employes, 

with  Portraits  of  the  Authors,  Held 

at  Minneapolis,  Minnesota, 

September  22-25,  1902. 


PUBLIC  POLICY 

CHICAGO 


HO 
9^  SI 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction.     By  Professor  William   A.   Schaper,  Secre- 
tary       3 

Opening  Address.     By  Cyrus  Northrop,  Chairman g 

Some    Phases    of    the    Labor   Question.     By    James    Kil- 
bourne   17 

Is    Compulsory     Arbitration     Inevitable?     By     Professor 
John    Bates    Clark 41 

Arbitration.     By   Herman   Justi,   Commissioner 61 

Some  Views  on  Arbitration.     By  Frank  P.  Sargent,  Com- 
missioner   of   Immigration 85 

The  Government  as  Employer.     By  Edward  J.  Gainor.  ...  95 
Some  Advance  Work.     By  Julian   V.  Wright 113 

Relation   of  the   Public  to  Capital  and  Labor.     By  Pro- 
fessor Charles  Zueblin 135 

Growth  of  Organized  Industry.     By  T.  V.  Powderly 147 

Opportunities  of  the  Industrial  Social  Secretary.     By  Eliz- 
abeth   C.    Wheeler 163 

The   Economic  Effects    of    the    Eight   Hours'    Day.     Bv 

Professor   Frank  L.    McVey 193 

Arbitration  from  the  Point  of  View  of  an  Arbitrator.     By 

Frederick  W.   Job 213 

Responsibility  in  Labor  Contracts  from  the  Standpoint  of 

the  Manufacturer.     By  W.  D.  Wiman 231 

Future    Relations     of    Labor    and     Capital.     By    W.    E. 

M'Ewen,  Secretary-Treasurer    247 


1691662 


INTRODUCTION. 


f^  -*i^J*^^''* 


PROFESSOR    \VM.    A.    SCIIAPRR. 


INTRODUCTION. 


This  volume  contains  selected  papers  read  at  the 
convention  of  employers  and  employes  held  at  Minne- 
apolis September  22-25,  1902.  These  addresses  were 
first  published  in  the  weekly  issues  of  Public  Policy, 
beginning  with  January  3  of  the  current  year. 
They  were  selected  by  Mr.  Allen  R.  Foote  as  being 
most  available  and  suitable  for  publication  from  a  list 
of  twenty  read  at  the  conference.  The  continual  de- 
mand for  copies  of  these  addresses  since  the  close  of 
the  conference  is  an  indication  of  the  widespread  in- 
terest which  these  discussions  aroused  and  makes  it 
desirable  to  give  them  a  more  permanent  form. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  a  lack  of  funds  has  so  far 
prevented  the  publication  of  the  official  proceedings 
of  the  conference,  this  volume  of  addresses  is  the  full- 
est and  most  trustworthy  report  of  the  transactions  of 
that  body  published  in  collected  form.  The  publica- 
tion of  this  report  is  due  to  the  enterprise  and  public 
spirit  of  the  editor  of  Public  Policy,  and  to  him  we  are 
very  grateful  for  this  important  service  to  the  public 
interested  in  obtaining  authentic  statements  of  the 
views  of  active  thinkers  and  workers  on  the  puzzling 
and  sometimes  distressing  labor  problem. 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

A  year  has  passed  since  the  MinneapoHs  conference 
closed.  While  the  results  of  a  meeting  of  its  kind  are 
difficult  to  measure,  because  they  are  and  must  be 
largely  intangible,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show 
that  it  promoted  a  good  deal  of  sane  thinking  and 
frank  exchange  of  views  on  the  part  of  representative 
men  in  the  ranks  of  labor,  leading  employers  and  those 
speaking  for  the  larger  public — men  entrusted  with  the 
administration  of  government  and  the  students  of  so- 
cial problems.  The  tenor  of  all  this  discussion  was 
conservative  in  spirit,  high  minded  and  eminently  fair. 
The  tendency  throughout  was  to  emphasize  the  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  the  toilers  are,  above  all  else, 
men  and  women — not  mere  laborers,  a  product  to  be 
bought  and  sold  as  any  other  commodity  on  the  mar- 
ket. It  was  also  a  noticeable  fact  that  economists, 
business  undertakers  and  workingmen  are  coming 
more  and  more  to  realize  the  potency  of  institutions 
in  shielding  the  individual  against  the  merciless  action 
of  so-called  natural  or  economic  laws,  often  merely 
pure  greed  of  a  predatory  class  bent  on  exploiting 
their  fellows.  The  recognition  of  this  principle  will 
make  for  two  things — greater  humnity  in  fixing  wa- 
ges and  conditions  of  employment  and  more  ex- 
tended and  eflfective  government  regulation  of  in- 
dustry. 

The  immediate  local  effect  of  the  discussions  was 
to  foster  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  desire  for  fair 
play  on  all  sides.    The  trouble  in  the  flour  mills  which 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

had  been  rising  rather  threateningly  for  several  months 
and  the  settlement  of  which  had  been  postponed  until 
the  close  of  the  conference,  was  disposed  of  with  great 
dispatch  and  utmost  good  feeling.  The  millers  agreed 
to  reduce  the  hours  from  twelve  to  eight,  to  increase 
the  number  of  employes  greatly,  entailing  an  increase 
of  40  per  cent  in  total  wages,  and  the  men  agreed  to  a 
slight  readjustment  of  the  wage  scale,  involving  slight 
increases  in  some  cases  and  a  slight  decrease  in  others. 

The  plan  of  bringing  together  active  employers, 
recognized  labor  leaders  and  fair  and  impartial  repre- 
sentatives of  the  interests  of  the  government  and  of 
the  larger  public  proved  to  be  a  success.  The  confer- 
ence was  especially  successful  as  an  agency  for  the  col- 
lection and  spread  of  valuable  information  on  the  labor 
problem  and  in  dispelling  dark  suspicions  and  misun- 
derstandings by  bringing  the  antagonists  in  pleasant 
personal  contact  remote  from  the  scene  of  actual  con- 
flict. It  was  intended  to  be  an  educational  movement 
and  the  men  in  this  city  who  originated  the  idea  and 
carried  it  through  were  satisfied  with  the  results.  They 
regretted  only  that  President  Roosevelt  was  at  the  last 
moment  prevented  from  lending  the  influence  of  his 
presence  and  counsel  to  the  good  work. 

At  the  close  of  the  conference  the  following  commit- 
tee was  elected  to  arrange  for  further  meetings  when 
in  their  judgment  circumstances  justify  such  action : 

J.  B.  Gilfillan,  chairman.  Guaranty  Loan  building, 
Minneapolis. 


O  INTRODUCTION. 

William  A.  Schaper,  secretary,  University  of  Minne- 
sota, Minneapolis. 

E.  E.  Clark,  grand  chief  conductor,  Cedar  Rapids, 
Iowa. 

James    Duncan,    vice-president    American    Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  B.  Clark,  Columbia  University,  New  York  City. 

Graham  Taylor,  Chicago  Commons,  Chicago. 

Herman   Justi,   commissioner   Illinois    Coal   Opera- 
tors' Association,  Chicago,  111. 

The  committee  voted  not  to  call  a  conference  this 
year. 

William  A.  Schaper,  Secretary. 

University   of   Minnesota,   Minneapolis,   September, 
1903. 


OPENING    ADDRESS. 


CYRUS    NORTHROP. 


OPENING     ADDRESS. 


BY  CYRUS  NORTHROP,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
MINNESOTA,    CHAIRMAN. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Convention: 

In  the  discharge  of  the  very  important  duties  to 
which  your  kindness  has  called  me,  I  hope  that  if  I 
am  not  able  to  say  anything  particularly  wise,  I  may  at 
least  be  guarded  from  saying  anything  especially 
foolish.  We  are  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering questions  of  great  importance — questions 
which  concern  most  deeply  the  welfare  and  the  happi- 
ness of  our  entire  people. 

INORDINATE     SELFISHNESS     THE     CAUSE    OF     CONFLICT. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  great  prosperity.  Capital 
and  labor  are  both  in  demand,  are  both  abundant  and 
for  the  present  are  both  in  no  condition  of  distress. 
At  the  same  time  there  is  not  a  little  rinrest  and  not 
a  little  feeling  of  insecurity  for  the  future.  Some 
mighty  conflicts  have  been  going  on,  and  others  no 
doubt  are  to  come.  These  conflicts  are  terribly  waste- 
ful and  they  ought  to  be  unnecessary  and  impossible? 
But  they  will  continue  to  come  just  so  long  as  an  inor- 

9 


lO  OPENING  ADDRESS. 

dinate  selfishness  shall  dominate  the  counsels  of  either 
of  the  contending  forces. 

A   MUTUAL  DUTY. 

No  doubt  capital  has  a  right  to  combine — and  no 
doubt  also  labor  has  a  right  to  combine.  But  might 
never  yet  made  right  and  it  never  can.  No  man  has  any 
right  to  live  exclusively  for  himself,  and  no  aggrega- 
tion of  men  has  any  right  to  live  exclusively  for  them- 
selves. Capital  owes  a  duty  to  labor;  and  labor  owes 
a  duty  to  capital.  Each  of  them  ought  to  have  some 
regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  other,  and  both  ought  to 
do  what  will  promote  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  the 
whole  people. 

NOMINAL  AND   ACTUAL   PROFITS. 

I  cannot  put  my  finger  on  the  absolute  cause  of 
contention.  Under  ordinary  conditions  capital  ought 
to  be  contented  with  a  fair  reward  for  its  services. 
But  ordinary  conditions  no  longer  exist  and  neither 
labor  nor  capital  is  to-day  satisfied  with  what  would 
be  a  fair  reward  but  for  the  abnormal  condition  of 
things.  I  suspect  that  the  watering  of  stocks,  the 
multiplication  of  the  millions  of  capital  by  arbitrary 
arithmetic  without  adding  a  dollar  to  the  value  has 
something  to  do  with  the  trouble ;  and  that  the  unrest 
of  labor  is  in  a  large  degree  occasioned  by  the  necessity 
of  earning  a  reasonable  profit,  not  on  actual  capital  but 
on  inflated  and  watered  capital,  and  that  the  laborer. 


OPENING  ADDRESS.  II 

while  recognizing  the  fact  that  he  is  receiving  a  fair 
compensation  for  his  labor  according  to  all  the  stand- 
ards of  the  past,  is  yet  dissatisfied  because  inflated  cap- 
ital, though  receiving  nominally  no  more  than  the  fair 
profit  of  the  past  is  in  reality  receiving  two,  three  and 
even  five  times  the  rate  of  profit  that  on  the  face  of 
things  it  appears  to  be  receiving. 

LABOR  CANNOT  MULTIPLY  ITSELF  AS  CAPITAL  CAN. 

This  will  explain  Vv'hy  labor  is  so  dissatisfied  with 
conditions  that  would  once  have  been  deemed  most 
happy.  And  it  is  not  surprising  that  labor  should 
grow  disquieted  over  its  modest  rewards,  when  capital 
multiplies  itself  at  its  own  sweet  will  and  demands 
to-day  interest  on  a  hundred  millions  of  stock  repre- 
senting precisely  the  same  property  that  yesterday  was 
but  fifty  millions.  If  stock  could  be  made  always  to 
represent  the  actual  money  invested,  and  then  as  pros- 
perity came  its  profits  could  show  the  actual  per  cent 
of  profit  on  the  capital,  publicity  would  be  worth  some- 
thing, and  the  capitalist  would  be  inclined  perhaps  to 
set  some  limits  to  his  own  appropriation  and  to  share 
more  equitably  with  labor. 

LABOR    FEELS    IT    OUGHT    TO    SHARE    BENEFITS    DERIVED 
FROM  IMPROVED  MACHINERY. 

Another  cause  of  unrest  among  laborers,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  is  this :  The  introduction  of  machinery,  while 
it  has  not  diminished  the  demand  for  labor  and  has 


12  OPENING  ADDRESS. 

in  no  way  tended  to  throw  workmen  out  of  employ- 
ment, as  was  at  first  feared,  has  resulted  in  such  a  tre- 
mendous increase  in  the  amount  of  production  from  a 
given  amount  of  labor  that  the  revenue  derived  is 
immensely  in  excess  of  what  was  formerly  derived 
from  the  application  of  the  same  amount  of  labor — 
the  excess  being  far  beyond  what  the  laborer  thinks 
the  mere  ownership  of  machinery  would  require  for 
compensation  for  capital  invested — and  here  again 
labor  feels  that  it  ought  to  share  somewhat  in  these 
accumulated  profits — and  not  be  held  down  to  the  old 
rates  of  so  much  an  hour,  be  the  product  great  or 
small.  In  other  words,  labor  feels  that  it  ought  to 
share  somewhat  in  the  benefit  derived  from  grander 
methods  and  larger  plans  and  greater  production  and 
augmented  prosperity.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that 
if  this  unrest  and  longing  of  labor  were  more  gener- 
ally recognized  by  corporations  and  a  willingness  were 
shown  to  let  labor  share  in  the  prosperity  of  these  cor- 
porations somewhat,  there  would  be  created  a  feeling 
of  fellowship  and  common  interest,  the  men  would  be 
devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  corporations  for  which 
they  worked,  the  corporations  would  come  to  regard 
their  men  as  something  more  than  money-earning  ma- 
chines, and  the  real  manhood  of  owners  and  v/orkmen 
would  be  brought  out  in  a  way  to  make  their  indus- 
trial life  an  ennobling  experience  for  both. 


OPENING  ADDRESS.  1 3 

THE   MOTTO   OF  THE  AGE:    ""hELP  ONE  ANOTHER." 

The  motto  for  the  age  is  not  '"Get  all  you  can  and 
keep  what  you  get."  It  is  rather,  '"Help  one  another." 
And  when  the  golden  rule  shall  be  observed  alike  by 
employer  and  employe  and  all  shall  do  to  others  what 
they  would  like  to  have  others  do  to  them,  we  shall 
have  a  golden  age,  not  merely  of  prosperity  but  of 
peace.  And  in  this  age  of  peace  men  of  all  classes 
will  not  only  be  able  to  provide  for  their  physical 
wants,  but  they  will  grow  into  a  nobler  manhood  of 
intellectual  and  spiritual  strength.  And  they  who 
shall  heartily  help  the  coming  of  this  age  of  peace,  be 
they  employer  or  employe,  will  do  the  noblest  kind  of 
work  for  the  happiness  and  development  of  the  human 
race. 

THE    WATCHWORD    OF    THE    AGE:    BROTHERHOOD. 

The  world  is  making  progress.  The  day  for  the  lord 
and  the  serf  has  gone  by.  There  has  been  a  mighty 
iiplift  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind  brought  about  by 
education,  by  invention,  by  a  grand  spirit  of  enter- 
prise. The  greatest  problem  is  not  now  how  can  a 
few  get  as  much  as  possible  while  the  many  toil  in 
wretchedness  to  swell  the  amount,  but  it  is  how  can 
happiness  and  comfort  be  best  assured  to  the  whole 
people,  and  how  can  real  human  wants  be  best  met 
widiout  destroying  human  lives  by  hopeless  toil.  The 
watchword  of  the  age  is,  or  should  be,  brotherhood, 
and  it  should  be  a  brotherhood  not  merely  of  men  who 


14  OPENING  ADDRESS. 

are  engaged  in  the  same  kind  of  work,  but  a  brother- 
hood of  all  men — rich  and  poor,  employer  and  em- 
ploye, all  recognizing  the  fact  that  they  are  children 
of  the  common  Father  and  brothers  by  birth  and  by 
community  of  interest. 

CONVENTION    IN    THE    INTERESTS    OF    PEACE    AND    HAR- 
MONY. 

This  convention  has  been  called  in  the  interest  of 
peace  and  harmony.  It  is  not  intended  to  denounce 
capital  nor  to  denounce  labor.  It  is  not  intended  to 
promote  the  interests  of  any  political  party  or  the  the- 
ories of  any  particular  school  of  economists.  It  rec- 
ognizes the  fact  that  the  present  methods  of  settling 
disputes  between  labor  and  capital  are  terribly  costly, 
opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  and  not 
productive  of  permanent  good  to  anyone.  It  desires 
to  find  some  way  by  which  strikes  and  lockouts  can  be 
avoided  and  capital  and  labor  can  work  together  with- 
out interruption.  For  this  purpose  the  ablest  thinkers 
of  the  country  have  been  invited  to  attend  the  conven- 
tion and  address  it.  Many  of  them  have  accepted  and 
will  speak  during  the  week.  We  hope  that  out  of 
this  expression  of  their  best  thoughts  by  the  best  think- 
ers of  the  country,  there  may  be  developed  some  plan 
by  which  the  industrial  forces  of  the  country  may  be 
thoroughly  harmonized,  the  work  of  the  country  may 
be  carried  forward  in  the  spirit  of  peace,  and  our 
whole  people  may  advance  to  a  grander  prosperity  and 
a  nobler  and  happier  life. 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  OUESTION. 


.*«k 


JAMES     KILBOURNE,    PRESIDENT     KILBOURNE    &    JACOBS 
MANUFACTURING   COMPANY. 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  OUESTION. 


BY  JA]MES  KILBOURNE,  PRESIDENT  AND  GENERAL  MANA- 
GER,   KILBOURNE   &   JACOBS    MANUFACTURING   COM- 
PANY,  COLUMBUS,  OHIO. 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : — The  invita- 
tion to  address  this  conference  was  given  me,  I  un- 
derstand, because  for  nearly  thirty  years  I  have  been 
the  manager  of  a  company  between  which  and  its  em- 
plo3'es  no  disagreement  of  any  kind  has  ever  arisen. 

It  was .  thought,  I  am  told,  that  a  statement  of  the 
methods  employed  by  our  company  might  explain  the 
cause  of  such  a  long  unbroken  industrial  peace,  and  be 
of  some  help  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  before  us. 

Standing  here  to-night,  recollections  of  many  inci- 
dents come  before  me,  which  doubtless  bear  upon  the 
happy  relations  between  the  company  and  its  working- 
men,  but  to  relate  these  would  savor  too  much  of  per- 
sonalities for  an  occasion  like  this.  I  shall  confine  my- 
self, therefore,  to  describing  briefly  the  general  course 
of  conduct  toward  our  employes,  which  was  adopted 

17 


1 8  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

by  the  company  at  the  beginning,  and  has  been,  some- 
times not  without  difficulty,  pursued  until  this  time, 
and  to  a  statement  of  what,  in  my  opinion,  labor  may 
justly  demand  from  those  who  employ  it. 

From  my  association  with  my  own  employes  I  have 
come  to  know  something  of  the  feelings  of  working- 
men  generally,  something  of  their  hardships  and  priva- 
tions, something  of  their  hopes  and  fears.  I  know  the 
justice  of  their  demand  for  much  that  is  still  denied 
them,  and  welcome  every  fit  opportunity  to  say  and  do 
what  I  can  in  their  behalf. 

If  I  shall  seem,  in  what  I  may  say,  to  speak  as  if 
ex  cathedra,  it  is  not  because  I  feel  competent  to  do 
so,  but  because  I  wish  to  give  my  opinions  frankly  and 
definitely,  and,  being  obliged  to  be  brief,  may  appear 
to  assume  an  authority  I  am  very  far  from  feeling. 

Personally,  I  should  prefer  to  confine  my  remarks 
to  a  general  discussion  of  the  labor  question,  and  shall 
speak  of  our  own  company  only  because  it  has  been 
suggested  that  our  experience  may  be  of  value  to 
others. 

Its  policy  in  general  terms  is  to  accord  the  same 
treatment  in  every  respect  to  those  employed  by  it  at 
daily  wages  that  is  shown  to  its  officers  and  salaried 
clerks. 

This  applies  to  vacations,  to  advancement  in  wages 
for  merit  and  length  of  service,  to  allowance  for  ill- 
ness or  injuries,  and  to  all  relations  between  us.  The 
coal  shoveler  feels  as  much  at  liberty  to  call  upon  the 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  IQ 

president  of  the  company,  either  at  his  office  or  his 
home,  about  either  the  company's  or  his  own  affairs, 
as  does  the  superintendent,  and  is  assured  of  as  much 
consideration  as  would  be  shown  anyone. 

Employes  are  paid  always  in  cash,  and  from  the  day 
the  company  began  business  no  man's  wages  have  ever 
been  reduced.  During  the  last  panic,  when,  as  is  well 
known,  wages  were  generally  largely  reduced,  in  some 
cases  30  and  even  40  per  cent,  we  maintained  the  old 
rate,  but  at  the  cost  of  a  considerable  part  of  our  ac- 
cumulated surplus.  Wages  of  individuals  are  ad- 
vanced from  time  to  time  in  accordance  with  their  in- 
creased efficiency,  and  we  have  several  times  voluntar- 
ily increased  all  wages  in  keeping  with  the  general  ad- 
vances— this  year  more  than  usual,  in  view  of  the  in- 
creased cost  of  living. 

If  an  employe  is  injured  or  seriously  sick,  he  is  al- 
lowed half  or  full  pay,  according  to  circumstances, 
without  reference  to  whether  the  injury  was  through 
his  own  negligence  or  ours.  If  injured  seriously,  he  is 
sent  to  a  hospital,  not  placed  in  the  general  or  free 
ward,  but  in  a  private  room,  under  a  paid  physician, 
with  instructions  to  give  him  every  care  that  would  be 
given  to  an  officer  of  the  company.  In  several  in- 
stances old  employes,  unable  to  bear  the  expense  them- 
selves, who  have  developed  symptoms  of  pulmonary 
disease,  have  been  sent  to  North  Carolina  or  Colorado, 
at  the  company's  expense.     Such  a  course  may  seem 

economically  unsound,  but  we  have  never  had  cause  to 
2 


20  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

regret  it,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  we  have  ever  been 
imposed  upon. 

We  employ  between  five  and  six  hundred  men,  and 
accidents,  many  of  them  serious,  requiring-  surgical  or 
medical  attention,  will  average  nearly  one  a  day,  yet 
in  all  these  years  we  have  never  had  a  suit  for  dam- 
ages or  any  demand  for  compensation  for  injury. 

Many  years  ago,  when  sixty  hours  a  week  was  the 
regular  time  of  work,  we  gave  the  men  Saturday  after- 
noon holidays,  without  loss  of  pay,  during  the  months 
of  July,  August  and  September,  so  that  their  vacation 
might  equal  that  of  the  officers  and  clerks. 

We  do  not  work  Saturday  afternoons  at  all  now 
except  under  very  urgent  circumstances,  but  for  the 
Saturday  afternoons  in  July,  August  and  September 
we  continue  to  give  full  pay,  as  before.  We  also  have 
annual  picnics,  which  are  attended  by  the  officers  and 
their  families — a  custom  which,  I  am  glad  to  say,  has 
come  to  be  followed  by  nearly  every  manufacturing 
company  in  our  city. 

Strict  instructions  are  given  that  no  man  shall  be 
discharged  without  just  cause,  and  that,  except  for 
gross  misconduct,  no  one  should  be  discharged  without 
at  least  a  week's  notice — longer  if  his  circumstances 
are  poor — so  that  he  may  have  an  opportunity 
of  securing  other  employment  imrfiediately  upon  termi- 
nating his  connection  with  us.  Nearly  90  per  cent 
of  the  men  now  living,  who  were  with  us  twenty  years 
ago,  arc  with  us  to-day. 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE   LABOR  QUESTION.  21 

In  the  employment  of  men  no  difference  is  made  on 
account  of  color,  religion  or  politics,  and  no  one  is  ever 
asked  whether  he  is  or  is  not  a  member  of  a  union. 
Many  of  our  employes  are  union  men,  but  the  greater 
number  are  not ;  between  these  there  has  never  been 
any  evidence  of  unpleasant  feelings.  There  is 
but  one  union  formally  recognized  in  our  shops, 
comprising  less  than  one-tenth  of  our  employes. 
Our  agreement  with  them  is  that  in  case  of  any  dis- 
agreements which  cannot  be  settled  satisfactorily  be- 
tween us,  the  question  at  issue  shall  be  referred  to  an 
arbitration  committee,  consisting"  of  one  member,  to 
be  selected  by  the  employes  from  their  number,  one  to 
be  selected  by  the  management,  the  third  member  to 
be  the  governor  of  the  state,  if  he  will  serve ;  but  no 
differences  have  ever  arisen  to  be  arbitrated,  or  even  to 
lead  to  consultation  between  us. 

Now  a  few  words  as  to  the  feeling  exhibited  toward 
us  by  our  employes.  I  could  relate  innumerable  in- 
stances, showing  their  loyalty  and  devotion  to  our  in- 
terests, but  one  will,  I  think,  suffice,  the  like  of  which 
I  have  never  heard  of  before  or  since.  Some  weeks 
after  the  beginning  of  the  great  panic  in  1893,  when 
trouble  and  desolation  were  spreading  over  the  land, 
there  filed  into  my  ofifice  at  our  shops  one  morning 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  men,  representing  the  different 
shops  of  our  works.  They  bore  serious  countenances 
and  a  serious  manner,  and  my  heart  sank  within  me. 
One  of  my  most  earnest  hopes  had  been  that  there 


22  SOME  rriASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

should  never  be  any  trouble  between  our  employes  and 
myself,  and  I  thought,  "Here  it  has  come  at  last." 

Finally  one  of  the  men  arose  and  said :  "Mr.  Kil- 
bourne,  we  have  hesitated  about  coming  here ;  we  have 
thought  about  it  a  great  deal  and  believe  we  are  right, 
and  we  hope  you  will  receive  the  suggestion  we  have  to 
make  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  offered.  We  have 
seen  in  the  daily  papers  accounts  of  the  failure  of  this 
firm  and  that  firm  and  the  other  firm,  which  has  existed 
for  many  years,  and  were  thought  to  be  strong  enough 
to  resist  any  panic.  We  know  that  your  warehouses 
are  filling  up  with  goods.  We  know  that,  as  is  the 
case  with  other  manufacturers,  you  cannot  sell  the 
goods  you  are  making  to-day  and  cannot  get  your  pay 
for  the  goods  you  have  sold.  We  do  not  know  what 
your  circumstances  are,  but  we  fear  they  may  be  like 
those  of  other  men  who  have  failed.  Some  of  us  have 
been  here  a  few  years,  some  of  us  many  years,  some 
of  us  almost  a  generation.  We  have  had  good  pay, 
we  have  been  able  to  save  up  some  money,  and,  while 
the  individual  savings  are  not  very  large,  the  aggre- 
gate is  a  very  considerable  sum.  We  have  come  to 
tell  you  that  it  is  all  yours,  to  do  with  what  you  please, 
if  you  need  it  in  the  interests  of  your  company." 

Oh,  my  friends,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  try  to  think  what 
my  feelings  were  upon  that  occasion,  because  I  have 
never,  from  that  time  to  this,  been  able  to  find  words 
whicli  could   properly  express  them. 

And  now  let  me  pass  to  the  consideration  of  those 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  23 

things  which  labor  seeks  and  which  must  be  granted 
before  we  can  have  industrial  peace. 

labor's  share. 

It  is  evident  that  wage-earners,  as  a  class,  are  not 
getting  their  full  share  of  the  profits  produced  jointly 
by  labor  and  capital.  The  wonderful  accumulation  of 
wealth  by  the  few,  the  frequent  labor  agitations,  the 
number  and  proportions  of  labor  strikes  all  demon- 
strate this. 

There  are,  of  course,  exceptions,  but,  generally 
speaking,  labor  does  not  receive  its  full  share.  While 
it  is  true  that  the  standard  of  living  among  working 
people  has  greatly  improved  during  the  present  cen- 
tury, it  is,  considering  the  vast  increase  in  wealth  and 
change  in  general  conditions  during  that  time,  still 
far  from  what  it  should  be. 

I  never  visit  the  home  of  a  common  laboring  man 
but  I  am  impressed  with  how  few  of  the  comforts — • 
not  to  speak  of  the  refinements — of  life  are  possible  for 
him,  and  his  patience  is  a  constant  marvel.  To  many 
of  them  "life  is  a  tragedy  too  deep  for  tears."  Im- 
proving public  opinion — a  growing  conviction  that  we 
are  our  brothers'  keepers — is  a  strong  force  tending  to 
better  the  situation  of  wage-earners,  but  while  in- 
stances multiply  wlffere  just  and  kindly  relations  be- 
tween employer  and  employe,  prove  by  their  results 
the  benefits  to  each  of  the  mutual  recognition  of 
brotherhood,  making  in  some  instances  labor  iniions 


24  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

unessential,  yet  in  the  majority  of  cases  these  are  still 
necessary  to  secure  just  wages,  and,  what  is  of  still 
greater  importance  to  American  workingmen,  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  equal  manhood. 

The  great  discrepancy  between  the  rewards  of  man- 
ual as  compared  with  those  of  other  labor,  the  fabulous 
fortunes  made  by  speculation,  and  the  forming  of  gi- 
gantic trusts,  controlling  the  necessaries  of  life,  are 
breeding  in  this  country  the  spirit  of  socialism. 

I  do  not,  however,  believe  with  those  who  prophesy 
a  social  revolution  near  at  hand.  I  do  not  believe  a 
speedy  overturning"  of  our  present  social  system,  im- 
perfect as  it  is,  would  be  beneficial  to  any  of  our 
citizens,  least  of  all  to  working  people.  While  the 
wage  system  is,  I  trust,  only  a  station  in  the  advance 
of  labor  from  slavery  to  true  independence,  I  do  not 
believe  it  will  be  done  away  with  in  this  generation, 
but  I  do  believe  that  many  of  its  hardships  may  be  al- 
leviated, and  luany  of  its  inequalities  largely  corrected 
and  great  steps  forward  to  better  things  be  taken  in  our 
time  if  organized  labor  does  all  it  can  and  ought  to  do 
by  working  faithfully  and  unitedly  to  that  end,  and  by 
being  as  strict  in  its  observance  of  the  rights  of  others 
as  it  is  firm  and  determined  in  maintaining  its  own.  I 
hope  and  believe  that  there  will  be  established  ulti- 
mately, a  social  system  better  than  that  we  now  have, 
but  I  am  sure  it  will  come,  and  will  better  come  by 
evolution,  not  by  revolution.  Its  exact  form  I  would 
not  venture  to  predict,  but  I  do  not  believe  it  will  be 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  2$ 

socialism;  I  think  there  is  something  much  better  in 
store  for  us ;  but,  whatever  its  form  may  be,  if  it  is  to 
be  final,  its  methods  will  conform  to  the  Golden  Rule — 
justice  will  be  its  cornerstone  and  love  for  our  fellow- 
men  its  firm  foundation. 

SOCIALISM. 

The  ultimate  purpose  of  socialism  is  a  commendable 
one ;  there  is  no  more  desirable  object  than  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  mass  of  mankind.  It  seeks  to  accomplish 
this  by  making  the  state  the  only  possessor  of  the 
means  of  labor.  The  state  is  to  order  what  work  is  to 
be  done  and  to  divide  the  returns.  My  belief  is  that 
this  would  result  not  in  greater  freedom  or  in  real 
equality,  but  in  the  most  grievous  tyranny,  and  that  the 
equality  secured  would  be  ultimately  that  of  general 
poverty,  and  that  true  progress  would  cease. 

If  the  state  is  to  have  universal  control,  it  must  ex- 
ercise an  authority  more  absolute  than  any  of  which 
we  have  record.  If  such  a  tyranny  is  to  guide  our 
daily  work,  to  determine  its  rewards,  to  order  our  in- 
comings and  our  outgoings  for  the  sake  of  equality, 
even  that  equality,  poor  as  it  would  be,  would  not  long 
exist. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  if  the  full  program 
of  the  socialist  cann»t  be  safely  pursued,  that  measures, 
called  by  some,  socialistic,  cannot  be  safely  and  profit- 
ably adopted. 

It  is  altogether  probable  that  in  the  near  future  pub- 


26  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

lie  utilities — what  are  sometimes  called  natural  monop- 
olies, such  as  waterworks,  the  lighting  of  towns  and 
cities,  telegraphs,  telephones  and  street  railways — will 
come  generally  under  municipal  ownership  or  control ; 
ultimately,  perhaps,  railways  and  mines  will  be  under 
the  management  of  the  state ;  but  I  do  not  believe  that 
socialism,  as  strictly  defined,  will  ever  prevail  in  this 
country. 

With  a  free  and  enlightened  people,  having  univer- 
sal suffrage,  there  is  a  better  way  of  securing  relief 
from  the  evils  which  now  exist.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
surrender  our  individual  freedom  in  order  to  secure 
equal  rights.  Bosses  and  trusts  and  all  conspirators 
against  the  spirit  of  American  equality  can  be  con- 
trolled by  better  means,  and  will  be.  Without  revolu- 
tion, without  disorder,  and  acting  strictly  within  the 
law,  the  American  people  will  find  a  way  to  secure 
equal  justice  and  equal  rights  to  all.  This  meeting 
itself  is  an  evidence  of  their  rising  determination  to  put 
an  end  to  special  privilege ;  to  say  to  corporate  greed — ■ 
thus  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no  farther;  to  assert  and 
to  maintain  the  truth  that  this  is  the  people's  govern- 
ment, that  it  was  founded  by  the  people  and  for  the 
people,  and  that  the  man  who  toils,  whether  at  the 
forge  or  in  the  field,  in  factory  or  in  mine,  is  as  much 
entitled  to  its  protection  and  to  share  in  its  adminis- 
tration as  the  greatest  so-called  captain  of  industry. 

Public  morals  are  improving,  public  opinion  is  be- 
coming a  factor  which  is  stronger  with  each  day  that 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  2/ 

passes,  and  we  may  never  expect  to  hear  spoken  again 
in  this  country,  by  the  head  of  even  the  most  powerful 
trust,  those  words  so  contemptuous  of  the  people,  "The 
public  be  damned.'^ 

Those  who  are  called  the  "common  people"  are 
going  to  take  charge  of  this  government,  and  in  their 
hands  it  will  be  eternally  safe.  "Educated  or  unedu- 
cated, they  do  not  hold  party  above  principle,  and  their 
distinctive  honesty  of  purpose  gives  them  a  moral 
power  which  will  be  as  overwhelmingly  great  as  is  their 
number." 

IMPROVED  FACTORY  REGULATIONS. 

Common  humanity  demands  that  employers  of  labor 
should  take  every  practical  precaution  against  bodily 
hurt  to  their  employes.  While  the  number  of  these 
employers  who  do  not  recognize,  or  do  no*:  care  for 
their  responsibility  for  the  well-being  of  those  under 
them  is,  under  the  advancing  humanitarianism  of  the 
age,  rapidly  diminishing,  the  number  of  those  careless 
of  the  safety  of  their  employes,  and  who  will  remain 
so,  unless  compelled  by  the  law  to  do  otherwise,  is  very 
large. 

Even  if  every  manufacturer,  every  railroad  presi- 
dent and  every  mine  owner,  were  all  alive  to  their  dutv 
in  this  respect,  public  supervision  w^ould  still  be  desir- 
able. 

The  just  and  humane  employer  welcomes  the  sug- 
gestions of  the  inspector  for  additional  precaution 
against  harm  to  his  employes,  and  urges  frequent  in- 


28  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION". 

spections  in  order  that  he  may  be  assured  that  every 
guard  against  injury  is  in  place  and  in  proper  condi- 
tion. Here  I  want  to  make  a  suggestion.  The  law 
should  provide,  not  only  for  precautions  against  in- 
jur}^  but  for  some  means  for  immediate  care  in  case 
of  accidents.  What  is  known  as  "Fred's  Pouch" 
should  be  in  every  shop,  in  every  caboose  and  freight 
house,  and  in  every  mine.  This  pouch  was  the  sug- 
gestion of  Fred  Woodrow,  of  whom  every  intelligent 
workingman  knows,  or  should  know.  Unselfishly  de- 
voted to  his  fellows,  he  has  justly  been  styled  the 
''Samaritan  of  Labor." 

It  has  never  been  my  good  fortune  to  know  him  per- 
sonally, but  I  have  read  much  that  he  has  written,  and 
there  is  no  man  I  more  highly  respect.  For  the  sug- 
gestion of  his  "Pouch"  I  shall  always  feel  personally 
indebted  to  him. 

This  is  a  pouch  in  which  is  kept,  open  to  all,  linen 
and  lint,  arnica,  sticking  plaster,  antiseptics,  etc.,  with 
instructions  for  use. 

Many  a  limb  and  many  a  life  have  l)een  saved  by  the 
immediate  use  of  these  simple  appliances,  by  which 
blood  poisoning  has  been  prevented. 

One  would  think  that  every  employer  of  labor  would 
think  of  and  provide  them,  but  it  never  occurred  to  me 
to  do  so  until  one  of  our  men,  a  fine  specimen  of  physi- 
cal manhood,  lost  the  use  of  his  arm  and  came  near 
losing  his  life.  When  I  saw  him  on  his  bed,  his  arm 
black  and  swollen  to  the  shoulder,  and  death  threat- 


SOMI-:    I'TFASKS   OF   THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  2() 

ening  him,  and  recognized  that  if  I  had  been  as  care- 
ful of  his  safety  as  of  that  of  my  own  son  his  suffer- 
ing and  danger  might  have  been  avoided,  I  felt  almost 
as  if  the  mark  of  Cain  ought  to  be  upon  me. 

So  I  welcome  the  visit  of  the  inspector,  and  gladly 
avail  myself  of  his  better  knowledge  of  what  safe- 
guards are  required,  and  with  all  humane  men  I  wel- 
come everything  which  calls  to  our  mind  and  enforces 
the  fact  that  men  should  be  more  to  us  than  dollars. 

EIGHT-HOUR    WORKING   DAY. 

One  thing  which  can  and  should  be  done  to  better 
the  condition  of  workingmen  is  to  shorten  the  hours  of 
labor.  "Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone,"  and  work- 
ingmen should  have  greater  opportunity  for  recrea- 
tion, for  sports  and  for  reading  and  study. 

It  is  their  just  due,  and  one  which  they  have  a  right 
to  demand  from  society.  Shorter  hours  would  lead  to 
the  shortening  of  the  list  of  the  unemployed,  and  as- 
sist in  securing  better  wages. 

Released  from  the  effect  of  the  constant  pressure  of 
large  numbers  of  unemployed,  forced  at  times  to  ac- 
cept work  at  any  price  to  escape  starvation,  working- 
men  could  easily  secure  better  terms. 

The  eight-hour  day  is  possible  with  labor  well  or- 
ganized under  conservative  leaders.  Legislation  can 
supplement  and  confirm  what  they  accomplish,  but 
cannot  secure  the  end  sought  without  their  united  and 
harmonious  demand.     This  ought  to  be  made,  and  I 


30  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

hope  to  live  to  see  the  time  when  eight  hours  will  be 
the  limit  of  a  day's  work  for  manual  labor  in  this  coun- 
try. 

I  am  aware  of  the  objection  which  is  made  that  the 
effect  of  such  shortening  of  time  is  an  enhancement  of 
the  cost  of  production  which  competition  with  those 
working  longer  hours  would  make  fatal,  but  I  am 
contemplating  a  reduction  so  widespread  that  this 
would  not  apply.  If  an  eight-hour  day  is  established 
in  this  country  in  any  important  trade,  the  same  would 
be  quickly  established  in  England,  and  then,  more 
slowly  perhaps,  in  other  competing  countries.  If  one 
trade  is  thoroughly  successful  the  others  would  quickly 
follow. 

Just  men,  whatever  their  positions  in  life,  will  op- 
pose child  labor  and  excessive  hours  of  work,  not  only 
for  the  reasons  already  given,  but  for  the  sake  of  a 
happy  home,  without  which  neither  virtue  nor  religion 
thrive. 

TRUSTS. 

It  is  quite  a  common  belief  that  the  evil  inherent  in 
trusts  is  not  combination,  but  overcapitalization.  Com- 
l>ination,  it  is  said,  brings  with  it  great  advantages. 
It  economizes  in  cost  of  production,  prevents  ruinous 
competition,  and,  therefore,  compulsory  lowering  of 
wages,  and  secures  firm  prices  to  consumer  and  pro- 
ducer. The  evil  they  say  is  that  the  trusts  by  over- 
capitalization put  an  excessive  value  on  the  properties 
combined,  and  that  in  undertaking  to  pay  dividends 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  3 1 

and  interest  on  the  stocks  and  bonds,  they  seek  to  take 
the  unearned  mterest  out  of  either  the  wages  of  the 
laborers  or  the  price  paid  by  the  consumer.  This  is 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  great  evils,  for  the  bonded 
debts  of  these  corporations  will  be  a  perpetual  burden 
on  the  public,  but  so  far  as  workingmen  are  concerned 
they  would  be  in  danger  whether  the  trusts  are  over- 
capitalized or  not ;  the  overcapitalization,  of  course, 
aggravates  the  evil. 

It  is  monopoly  that  gives  the  power  to  regulate 
wages ;  overcapitalization  merely  adds  an  additional  in- 
centive for  lowering  them. 

If  all  manufacturers  in  a  given  line  are  combined 
the  workingmen  in  those  industries  have  no  free  mar- 
ket for  the  only  thing  they  have  to  sell — their  labor. 

The  two  assumptions  upon  which  overcapitalization 
of  industrial  concerns  are  based  are  that  through 
monopoly  higher  prices  can  be  obtained  from  the  con- 
sumer, and  labor  be  regulated  at  their  will.  This 
would  permit  the  enforcement  of  the  theory  which 
public  opinion  in  this  country  has  long  since  con- 
demned, that  one  man  has  the  right  to  buy  the  labor 
of  another  as  he  would  merchandise,  at  the  lowest 
obtainable  price;  that  wages  must  be  regulated  by  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  with  no  other  restriction 
than  supplying  the  means  of  bare  existence. 

I  am  not  opposed  to  large  corporations,  where  no 
monopoly  results,  and  I  can  conceive  of  combinations 
that  would  be  beneficial  not  only  to  the  parties  combin- 


32  SOME   PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

ing,  but  to  their  employes  and  the  pubhc  at  large.  But 
the  overcapitalized  trusts  of  to-day  are  practical 
monopolies.  They  are  a  menace  to  our  prosperity  and 
to  the  independence  of  laborers.  It  is  becoming  a  very 
common  belief  that  while  both  of  the  great  political 
parties  declare  against  them  in  their  platforms,  noth- 
ing will  be  done  to  crush  them,  or  effectually  control 
them,  and  it  is  held  by  growing  numbers  that  the 
tendency  toward  their  promotion  is  so  universal  that 
it  must  be  grounded  on  economic  and  moral  necessi- 
ties. 

If  this  is  so,  if  the  tendency  to  monopoly  is  irre- 
sistible, if  it  is  following  out  the  law  of  progress,  and 
any  attempt  to  resist  it  will  be  in  vain,  then  there  is 
but  one  thing  for  laboring  men  to  do  for  their  own 
protection ;  they  must  trust  each  other  more  and  learn 
to  work  together  more  harmoniously.  Public  opinion 
is  becoming  more  and  more  upon  their  side.  The 
great  majority  of  well-to-do  people  in  this  country  are 
in  sympathy  with  them,  and  the  enormous  increase  of 
monopolistic  trusts  will  compel  all  fair-minded  men 
to  acknowledge  the  necessity  for  labor  organizations. 

LABOR   UNIONS. 

There  are,  it  is  true,  still  many  well-meaning  men 
who  object  strongly  to  trades  unions.  They  think 
them  troublesome,  a  check  on  production  and  a  menace 
to  social  order. 

That  they  are  not  always  peaceable  is  true ;  that  they 


SOME   PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  33 

are  inimical  to  productive  or  social  growth  is  not  true, 
and,  for  the  laborer,  they  are  often  a  necessity. 

While  there  is  an  increasing  number  of  employers 
who  recognize  their  true  obligations  as  such,  and  who 
are  as  sincerely  concerned  in  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  laboring  men  and  women  as  they  them- 
selves are,  and  while  there  is  a  growing  opinion  in  the 
world  that  the  man  who  does  not  deal  fairly  with  those 
he  employs  to  aid  him  in  building  up  his  business,  is  a 
man  to  be  shunned  by  his  manlier  brothers,  organiza- 
tion of  labor  is  still  necessary  in  a  multitude  of  cases  to 
insure  fair  treatment  and  just  wages.  Enlightened 
public  opinion  is  coming  more  and  more  to  recognize 
the  necessity  for  such  organization,  and  to  recognize 
the  fact  that  "even  if  the  gains  from  it  were  much  less 
than  they  are,  it  has  the  promise  of  better  things." 

With  all  the  faults  of  administration  which  have  in 
the  past  and  may  in  the  future  turn  them  for  a  time 
from  the  way  of  peace,  their  ultimate  object  leads  not 
only  to  the  improvement  of  workingmen,  but  to  the 
advancement  of  mankind. 

Where  does  self-denial  and  living  for  others,  not 
for  self  alone ;  the  recognition  of  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  men,  as  the  sons  of  one  Father ;  the  helping  of 
the  widow  and  the  orphan,  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
needy,  find  greater  expression  than  in  the  unions  and 
councils  of  labor? 

The  great  development  of  these  organizations  in  re- 
cent years ;  the  willingness  displayed  by  their  mem- 


34  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

bers,  not  only  to  help  and  assist  those  in  need,  but  to 
do  so  at  the  cost  of  great  inconvenience,  and  even  suf- 
fering to  themselves,  to  make  sacrifices  sometimes  for 
those  they  have  never  known,  and  may  never  know,  is 
to  me  an  evidence  of  advancing  civilization,  a  step 
forward  toward  that  time,  desired  by  the  good  of  all 
the  ages,  and  yet  so  far  away  that  hope  alone  pursues 
it,  the  time  when  all  men  shall  know  that  living  for 
others  is  the  only  true  life — the  only  life  worth  living. 

RELATIONS    BETWEEN    EMTLOYERS    AND    EMPLOYES. 

What  are  the  true  relations  between  capital  and  la- 
bor? What  are  the  facts?  The  money  of  the  capital- 
ist and  the  labor  of  the  workingman  are  both  necessary 
to  insure  the  results  sought.  Their  true  relation  is  that 
of  independent  equals  uniting  their  efforts  to  a  given 
end,  each  with  the  power,  within  certain  limits,  to  de- 
termine his  own  rights,  but  not  to  prescribe  the  rights 
of  the  other.  The  employer  has  no  more  right  to  dic- 
tate or  even  decide  how  labor  shall  seek  its  interest 
than  labor  has  to  dictate  to  the  employer. 

With  this  community  of  interest,  this  practical  part- 
nership recognized;  with  fair  wages  and  just  con- 
sideration of  manhood  and  brotherhood,  labor  and  capi- 
tal can  live  and  work  harmoniously  together,  even  un- 
der the  wage  system. 

Nearly  thirty  years'  experience  as  a  manufacturer 
has  convinced  me  that  workingmen  do  not  ask,  that 
they  do  not  desire,  of  those  in  whose  fairness  they  have 


SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION.  35 

confidence,  more  than  they  believe  to  be  justly  due 
them,  and  that  \vhen  an  employer  wishes  to  do  all  that 
justice  demands  and  necessity  permits,  and  approaches 
them  and  deals  with  them  as  men  having  the  same 
feelings,  the  same  objects  in  life,  and  the  same  rights 
as  themselves,  there  will  be  no  trouble  whatever  in 
establishing   amicable    relations    betv/een    them. 

When  the  officers  and  employes  of  our  company 
march  together  on  public  occasions  they  carry  a  ban- 
ner, which  has  in  its  center  two  clasped  hands.  Over 
these  is  the  word  "Labor"  and  underneath  the  word 
"Capital."  It  represents,  I  truly  believe,  the  feeling 
which  exists  between  us,  and  I  know  no  reason  why  it 
should  not,  if  just  effort  be  made  by  both,  represent 
the  relations  of  labor  and  capital  everywhere.  I  be- 
lieve, in  spite  of  many  evidences  to  the  contrary,  that 
we  are  steadily  progressing  toward  that  end,  and  I 
speak  with  the  confidence  born  of  conviction  when  I 
repeat  the  prophecy  that  "though  trusts  and  monopo- 
lies may  multiply,  the  cause  of  workingmen  struggling 
for  a  more  just  and  equitable  participation  in  the  joint 
proceeds  of  capital  and  labor  will  not  suffer.  Neither 
combination  of  capital,  the  errors  of  its  friends  nor  the 
crimes  of  anarchists  committed  in  its  name  can  per- 
manently check  its  onward  progress. 

Unv.'ise  and  selfish  legislation  may  for  a  time  delay 
it,  but  amply,  peaceful  remedy  is  in  labor's  hands. 
With  organization  seeking  advancement  in  intelli- 
gence, in  education,  in  patriotism,  as  well  as  in  wages ; 


36  SOME  PHASES  OF  THE  LABOR  QUESTION. 

with  leaders  unselfishly  devoted  to  right  and  justice; 
with  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count,  it  will,  in  the  right 
way,  the  orderly  way,  the  lawful,  honored,  American 
way,  secure  its  just  rewards. 

THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT. 

While  between  labor  and  capital  there  may  be  and 
should  be  peace,  between  labor  and  monopoly  there 
can  never  be  anything  but  war.  The  strike  in  the 
anthracite  coal  mines  may  be  stopped  for  a  time  by 
the  exhaustion  of  either  party  to  it,  but  the  strife  will 
never  be  definitely  settled  while  a  few  individuals, 
claiming  divine  authority,  assert  the  right  to  control  a 
necessity  of  life,  the  gift  of  the  Creator  to  all  his  chil- 
dren, and  to  do  with  as  only  they  see  fit. 

It  is  said  that  behind  the  coal  trust  are  arrayed  other 
large  monopolistic  corporations,  and  that  these  hope 
for  the  success  of  the  coal  trust  in  the  existing  strug- 
gle, believing  that  if  it  is  successful  unionism  in  this 
country  will  receive  its  death  stroke.  I  do  not  believe 
it.  This  is  a  thing  that  will  never  be  accomplished. 
It  would  be  a  most  disastrous  thing,  as  disastrous  for 
capital  as  for  labor.  No,  the  onward  march  of  labor 
may  possibly  be  checked  and  delayed,  but  it  cannot  be 
permanently  prevented.  The  overwhelming  weight  of 
public  opinion  is  on  its  side,  and  will  be  as  long  as  it 
wages  its  conflict  in  lawful  ways.  Let  the  laboring 
man  remember  that  liberty  under  the  form  of  lazv  is  his 
greatest   earthly   inheritance — of  more   importance   to 


SOME    PHASES    OF    THE    LABOR    QUESTION.  37 

liim  than  it  is  to  the  rich.  Let  him  be  careful,  as  care- 
ful of  the  rights  of  others,  as  he  is  of  his  own,  and  in 
the  end  he  wih  surely  be  triumphant,  helping  the  com- 
ing of  that  day,  which  may  God  speed,  when  lockouts 
and  strikes  shall  be  no  more,  because  all  men  shall 
recognize  and  obey  the  obligations  that  pertain  to  the 
universal  brotherhod  of  man. 


IS     COMPULSORY     ARBITRATION     [NEV  IT- 
ABLE? 


JOHN    BATES  CLARK,   PROFESSOR  OF  ECONOMICS,   COLUM- 
BIA UNIVERSITY. 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITA- 
BLE? 


BY  JOHN   BATES  CLARK,   PROFESSOR  OF  ECONOMICS,   COL- 
UMBIA UNIVERSITY,   NEW   YORK   CITY. 


INDUSTRY  SHOULD  MEAN   PEACE.       IT  ACTUALLY   MEANS 

WAR. 

We  have  been  watching  the  progress  of  a  strike 
which,  however  it  may  result,  means  scarce  and  dear 
coal  for  everybody.  The  harm  that  this  strike  does 
differs  only  in  degree  from  that  which  is  done  by  many 
other  contests  over  rewards  of  labor.  Industry  should 
mean  peace ;  but  it  actually  means  a  kind  of  war.  We 
do  not  stop  strife  when,  as  the  saying  is,  "we  beat 
swords  into  plowshares,"  or  at  least  when  we  beat  them 
into  coal  shovels  or  spindles  or  into  steel  making  ma- 
chinery. Somewhere  within  the  domain  where  such 
implements  are  used  there  is  always  a  quarrel  pending, 
and  if,  like  an  ancient  people,  we   had   a  temple   that 

41 


42         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

should  be  open  only  in  time  of  war,  it  would  be  open  all 
the  time. 

BLIGHTING  EFFECTS   OF   STRIKES. 

As  our  economic  life  becomes  more  and  more  in- 
tense, strikes  become  more  constant  and  more  disor- 
ganizing. Their  effect  runs  through  the  whole  system 
carrying  everywhere  a  certain  blight.  At  any  moment 
the  supply  of  coal  may  somewhere  be  cut  off,  or  carry- 
ing may  cease,  or  building  be  brought  to  a  standstill. 
In  any  such  case  we  see  at  once  how  the  stoppage  ef- 
fects the  workmen,  the  employers,  and  the  consumers. 
We  need  to  see  equally  clearly  how  the  system  which 
involves  such  strife  affects  the  general  rate  of  wages 
and  the  increase  of  capital ;  how  it  influences  our  pros- 
perity at  home  and  our  commercial  dominance  abroad, 
and  what  effect  it  may  come  to  have  on  the  stability  of 
our  democracy. 

The  mere  stoppage  of  production  is  not,  in  an  in- 
dustrial way,  the  most  sinister  feature  of  a  strike;  for 
the  plan  that  makes  men  stop  working  in  order  to  en- 
force a  demand  for  higher  pay  or  shorter  hours  impels 
them  to  enforce  it  further  by  temporarily  crippling  bus- 
iness in  other  ways.  The  sympathetic  strike  and  the 
boycott  come  into  play  as  means  of  cutting  off  supplies 
of  raw  materials  or  closing  the  markets  for  manu- 
factured goods.  More  literal  warfare  often  appears 
when  new  workmen  are  brought  on  the  scene.  While, 
as  the  cant  saying  is,  we  are  "pointing  with  pride"  to 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?         43 

our  industrial  development  and  indulging  in  Napole- 
onic dreams  of  commercial  expansion  and  conquest, 
the  forces  that  must  work  harmoniously  in  order  to  se- 
cure such  a  growth  are  involving  themselves  in  more 
and  more  extended  and  embittered  quarrels  with  each 
other.  While  at  war  with  ourselves  we  are  dreaming 
of  dominion  over  the  world. 

THE  EVIL  IS   INSTITUTIONAL    NOT  INDIVIDUAL. 

There  is  comfort  in  thinking  that  this  is  due  to  a 
system  and  not  to  the  character  of  the  men  who  are  in 
influential  places  under  the  system — although  the  per- 
sonal character  of  the  men  is  far  from  being  a  matter 
of  indiflference.  Good  leadership  may  do  much  to 
lessen  the  evil  resulting  from  a  bad  system,  and  bad 
leadership  may  do  much  to  destroy  the  fruits  of  a  good 
one.  The  essential  fact,  however,  is  that,  given  a  ne- 
cessity for  striking  in  order  to  enforce  a  demand  for 
pay,  any  body  of  men  would  strike.  If  we  challenge 
him  that  would  never  thus  sin  to  cast  the  first  stone  at 
President  Mitchell  or  President  Baer,  those  gentlemen 
will  both  be  safe  from  missiles.  It  is  an  inspiring 
thought  that,  as  the  evil  is  institutional,  the  remedy  may 
be  so  and  that  by  some  change  in  the  system  we  may 
bring  peace  to  the  world  without  waiting  for  it  to  peo- 
ple itself  with  better  men  than  those  who  are  now 
living.  If  so,  the  change  will  indeed  react  on  the  char- 
acters of  men  in  a  transforming  Avay,  for  the  moral 
eflfect  of  industrial  quarrels  is  the  worst  effect  that  they 
have. 


44         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 
COMPULSORY   ARBITRATION    IN    NEW    ZEALAND. 

We  have  lately  heard  of  a  country  that  lies  literally 
and  figuratively  at  the  antipodes  from  ours,  where 
strikes  do  not  occur.  New  Zealand  settles  differences 
between  employers  and  employed  by  compulsory  arbi- 
tration and  this  example  has  begun  to  provoke  imita- 
tion. If  we  judge  the  result  of  the  experiment  by  what 
most  New  Zealanders  think  about  it,  it  has  been  unqual- 
ifiedly successful.  Indeed  the  results  of  this  experi- 
ment and  others  have  led  at  least  one  prominent  New 
Zealander  publicly  to  tell  Americans  that  the  people  of 
his  island  live  in  what  is  at  least  a  vestibule  of  Para- 
dise and  that  Americans  now  live  in  a  purgatory  which 

may  be  the  vestibule  of  something    worse. 

Collective  self-satisfaction  carried  to  the  point  of  en- 
thusiasm over  one's  country  and  its  institutions  has  been 
developed  in  Australasia,  and  has  been  carried  to  the 
greatest  length  in  the  island  which  is  the  most  original 
and  audacious  part  of  Australasia.  This  fact  should 
set  us  thinking  whether  so  much  of  self-satisfaction  has 
not  some  adequate  grounds  and,  if  it  has,  whether  we 
are  in  any  way  debarred  from  following  so  fortunat<' 
an  example.  We  need  to  inquire  at  once  whether  thf 
conditions  of  our  own  country  are  less  favorable  for 
authoritative  arbitration  than  are  those  of  the  remote 
southern  republics.  If  the  differences  between  our 
country  and  New  Zealand  count  in  favor  of  such  a  sys- 
tem, by  all  means  let  some  of  our  states  try  it. 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?         45 

DIFFERENCES   BETWEEN    THE   UNITED   STATES   AND    NEW 
ZEALAND. 

What  are  some  of  these  differences  ?  First,  our  sys- 
tem of  industry  is  more  complex  than  is  that  of  New 
Zealand.  This  means  that  our  different  branches  of 
industry  are  closely  interdependent,  and  that  the  para- 
lyzing effect  of  a  strike  in  one  of  them  extends  through 
the  whole  system.  The  injury  that  it  causes  goes  far 
beyond  the  area  of  dispute  and  this  increases  the  need 
of  something  that  will  ensure  harmony.  Secondly  ;  our 
country  is  full  of  trusts;  and  this  means  that  a  strike, 
instead  of  shutting  off  one  mill  in  an  industry  and  leav- 
ing the  others  to  continue  ministering  to  the  needs  of 
the  public,  may  paralyze  the  industry  as  a  whole  and  cut 
oft"  the  entire  supply  of  some  needed  article.  Every 
such  strike  is  largely  against  the  public  and  many  of 
them  occurring  in  quick  succession  might  have  eft'ect 
enough  to  impoverish  a  country  otherwise  full  of  re- 
sources. 

THE  PUBLIC   PAYS  THE  COSTS  OF   STRIKES. 

The  existence  of  trusts  puts  many  strikes  on  a  radi- 
cally new  footing.  A  motive  for  yielding  to  them  is 
removed.  When  one  employer  out  of  a  score  in  the 
same  industry  finds  that  his  men  have  gone  on  a  strike 
he  is  under  a  strong  pressure  to  make  concessions  to 
them.  He  has  everything  to  lose  by  the  stoppage  of 
his  mill  while  those  of  his  competitors  continue  run- 


46         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

ning.  These  rival  mills  are  likely  to  increase  their 
output  and  secure  to  themselves  the  custom  that  for- 
merly w^ent  to  the  one  that  is  nov^  closed.  A  trust  has 
no  such  rivalry  to  fear  and  can  bide  its  time  before 
yielding  to  its  men.  On  the  other  hand  the  trust  has 
much  to  gain  by  first  holding  out  till  its  men  are  near 
the  end  of  their  resources  and"  then  making  some  small 
concession  that  will  bring  them  back  to  their  work. 
It  can  charge  the  cost  of  such  a  concession  to  the  public 
and  exact  a  large  profit  besides.  It  can  mark  up  the 
price  of  its  products  and  make  the  public  pay  twice 
over  the  costs  that  it  incurs  in  fighting  its  men.  If  a 
number  of  such  strikes  should  occur  at  once,  the  bur- 
den would  fall  crushingly  on  the  general  body  of  work- 
ing people,  who  are  the  largest  and  most  sensitive  part 
of  the  consuming  public.  Imagine  the  effect  on  fami- 
lies whose  earnings  are  a  dollar  or  two  a  day  of  strikes 
that  should  stop  at  the  same  time  the  business  of  the 
coal  combination,  the  biscuit  trust  and  the  meat  com- 
bination. Can  they  stand  dear  fuel  and  dear  food  at 
the  same  time  ?  If  the  steel  trust  were  involved,  so  that 
building  operatives  should  be  crippled,  and  if  a  few 
railroads  were  also  affected,  the  hardships  suffered  by 
the  poor  might  exceed  those  of  the  severest  commer- 
cial crisis  which  our  country  has  experienced.  Such 
strikes  have  not  yet  chanced  to  come  together,  but  un- 
der the  present  mode  of  adjusting  wages  the  growth 
of  trusts  invites  them  and  the  time  may  come  when 
there  will  be  strikes  enough  in  progress  at  once  to  throw 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?         47 

terrible  burdens  on  the  class  least  able  to  bear  them.  In 
a  way  that  is  entirely  new  trusts  are  beginning  to  throw 
the  burdens  of  industrial  warfare  on  the  public,  and 
mainly  on  the  wage  earning  part  of  the  public. 

A   ONE-SIDED  SITUATION    FOR   \VORKINGMEN. 

Another  important  change  due  to  trusts  is  to  be  con- 
sidered. The  country  is  now  forced  to  chose  between 
two  alternatives  both  of  which  are  already  nearly  in- 
tolerable and  will  soon  be  quite  so.  To  understand 
them  we  must  go  back  to  the  original  purpose  of  trade 
unions.  Theoretically,  competition  gives  to  the  la- 
borer the  value  of  the  product  that  he  specifically  cre- 
ates. The  mill  and  the  men  together  turn  out  certain 
quantities  of  cloth,  shoes,  or  what  not,  and  there  is  a 
distinguishable  part  of  this  joint  product  which  is  trace- 
able to  the  labor  alone.  The  value  of  this  separate  part 
of  the  output  of  cloth,  shoes,  or  pig  iron,  as  the  case 
may  be,  is  the  natural  pay  of  the  men  who  make  it,  and 
this  is  what  competition  would  give  to  them  if  it 
worked  in  entire  perfection.  It  does  not  work  in  en- 
tire perfection,  and  one  of  the  things  that  interfere  with 
its  working  is  the  inequality  of  strength  that  is  ap- 
parent when  consolidated  capital  makes  a  bargain  with 
unconsolidated  labor.  The  working  of  the  natural  law 
of  wages  requires  that  if  capital  acts  in  masses,  labor 
shall  do  the  same.  With  workmen  partially  organized 
the  situation  may  still  be  one-sided,  for  it  may  be  possi- 
ble for  a  great  corporation  to  gather  a  force  of  idle 


48         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

men  from  remote  parts  of  the  country  and  use  them 
to  break  a  strike.  What  a  trade  union  can  compel  an 
employer  to  pay  is  thus  partly  governed  by  what  idle 
men  here  and  there  are  willing  temporarily  to  accept, 
and  that  may  be  an  amount  that  by  no  means  represents 
their  entire  earning  power.  Strike  breaking  freely  al- 
lowed appears  to  cause  wages  again  and  again  to  fall 
somewhat  below  their  normal  level,  though  it  may  allow 
them  afterwards  to  rise  slowly  toward  or  to  it. 

STRIKE  BREAKING. 

Yet  there  is  not  in  our  civil  system  any  provision 
for  restraining  this  strike  breaking  operation.  Idle 
men  have  an  absolute  right  to  take  work  when  it  is 
ofit'ered  to  them,  and  employers  have  a  perfect  legal 
right  to  offer  it.  The  only  influence  that  prevents  the 
offering  and  accepting  of  such  work  is  that  which  trade 
unions  themselves  exert,  and  they  exert  it  in  a  way  that 
easily  runs  into  a  breach  of  social  order.  Persuasion 
is  legitimate  and  when  that  alone  suffices  to  deter  non- 
union men  from  working,  the  situation  is  not  abnormal ; 
but  violence  is  not  legal  and  neither  is  that  kind  of  per- 
suasion which  involves  a  threat  of  violence.  If  one 
says  to  a  strike  breaker  "stop  working  or  your  house 
will  not  be  safe,"  the  law  is  in  effect  gravely  violated, 
even  though  the  man  stops  and  no  house  is  burned. 
The  actual  condition  of  a  country  in  which  trade  unions 
are  not  universal  and  are  not  chartered  and  responsi- 
ble bodies,  is  one  in  which  a  power  to  terrorize  and  as- 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATIOX    INEVITABLE?         49 

sault  is  exercised  by  irresponsible  bodies  of  men.  The 
country  does  not  fully  protect  the  strike  breaker.  It 
tolerates  attacks  on  him  and  tacitly  permits  him  to  be 
forced  off  from  fields  where  disputes  are  pending.  It 
does  this  on  the  ground  that  strike-breaking  works 
a  certain  hardship  for  organized  labor.  From  a  reluc- 
tance to  sanction  that  hardship  it  holds  its  hands  and 
refrains  from  giving  full  protection  to  non-union  men 
unless  disorders  become  too  acute  to  be  longer  tol- 
erated. 

This  may  easily,  create  a  condition  that  is  unendur- 
able. The  law  will  never  formally  surrender  its  func- 
tion of  protecting  persons  from  assault.  It  came  into 
existence  in  order  to  do  this  and  to  stop  doing  it  is  to 
permit  a  reversion  to  partial  anarchism.  The  state  is 
actually  vacillating  between  tolerating  so  much  of  an- 
archism and  tolerating  the  easy  breaking  of  strikes 
against  powerful  employers.  It  accepts  a  measure  of 
both  evils.  It  feebly  asserts  itself  as  a  protector  when 
positive  riots  occur,  but  in  any  state  short  of  that  it  is 
apt  to  let  things  take  their  course. 

THIS  IS  MY  JOB. 

Let  us  look  a  little  deeper  and  put  into  words  the 
unformulated  motive  for  the  state's  present  anomalous 
policy.  In  a  tacit  and  irregular  way  it  accords  the 
workmen  who  now  have  possession  of  a  field  of  labor 
a  certain  right  of  tenure  of  place.  They  occupy 
a    position,    as    squatters    occupy  their   little   farms. 


50         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

with  no  legal  title  that  can  be  defended ;  but  though 
the  law  formally  permits  evictions,  public  sentiment 
which  looks  more  deeply  than  law,  does  not  freely  per- 
mit them.  The  workman  says :  "This  is  my  job  and 
an  interloper  who  would  take  it  from  me  is  a  quasi- 
robber  ;"  and  though  the  state  cannot  and  will  not  assert 
that  the  mere  holding  of  the  job  gives  a  right  of  prop- 
erty in  it,  it  still  acts  on  the  feeling  that  the  man  in  pos- 
session of  the  place  has  a  vaguely  defined  claim  to  it  and 
ought  not  to  be  thrust  out  in  favor  of  any  one  who  may 
be  willing  temporarily  to  work  for  less  pay.  There  is 
growing  up  in  the  community  a  customary  practice  that 
might  grow  into  something  equivalent  to  law,  which 
gives  to  the  men  in  an  employment  a  preference  over 
other  men;  and  we  are  to  this  extent  tacitly  recogniz- 
ing that  quasi-right  of  tenure  of  place  which  workmen 
so  strongly  assert  and  so  irregularly  and  dangerously 
vindicate.  We  let  them  protect  their  places  by  per- 
suasion backed,  at  need,  by  force.  We  let  cudgels  and 
brickbats  in  irresponsible  hands  do  what  we  are  not 
willing  to  do  in  a  regular  way. 

ESSENCE     OF     REASONABLE     COMPULSORY     ARBITRATION. 

Is  this  condition  a  tolerable  one?  Will  it  be  endur- 
able at  all  if  the  amount  of  such  coercion  greatly  in- 
creases? If  not,  how  many  ways  are  there  of  escap- 
ing from  it?  For  state  socialism  it  is  safe  to  say  the 
majority  of  us  are  not  ready,  and  even  if  it  were  to 
come,  it  would  bring  with  it  a  condition  in  which  the 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?  5 1 

rewards  of  labor  would  have  to  be  fixed  by  some  offi- 
cial body.  The  process  would  be  far  more  arbitrary 
than  is  that  of  the  tribunals  which,  in  Australasia,  ad- 
just the  terms  of  employment.  If  the  plan  of  doing 
this  by  contract  between  employers  and  employed  is  to 
continue  at  all,  the  state  must  choose  whether  it  will 
or  will  not  give  some  recognition  to  the  claim  of  or- 
ganized laborers  to  their  tenure  of  place.  If  it  denies 
this  right,  strike  breaking  should  go  on  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  state  and  without  let  or  hindrance  from 
any  other  power.  If  it  recognizes  the  right,  the  state  is 
the  only  agency  that  can  properly  enforce  it.  The 
state  must  say  when  a  body  of  workers  may  be  thrust 
away  from  the  mills,  the  mines,  or  the  railroads  where 
they  have  been  working  in  order  that  a  new  body  of 
men  may  be  put  in  their  places :  There  are  conceiva- 
ble grounds  on  which  it  might  be  right  to  thrust  them 
out.  If  they  are  acting  arbitrarily  and  unjustly,  if  they 
are  restricting  the  number  of  their  members  and  de- 
manding abnormal  rates  of  pay  for  themselves,  they 
are  acting  as  monopolists,  and  there  is  no  ground  for 
protecting  them ;  but  if  their  demands  are  reasonable,  it 
is  in  order  for  some  competent  authority  to  say  so  and 
to  ensure  them,  so  long  as  they  continue  so  to  act, 
against  a  loss  of  their  places.  This  is  the  essence  of  the 
only  compnlsory  arbitration  that  I  am  rvilling  to  recog- 
nise as  desirable.  It  hinges  on  that  claim  to  a  tenure 
of  place  which  organized  workmen  assert  and  vindi- 
cate in  their  own  irregular  way.     It  legalizes  this  right 


52         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

to  the  extent  of  protecting  from  eviction  men  who  ac- 
cept terms  that  are  pronounced  just,  but  it  leaves  men 
who  reject  just  terms  to  go  elsewhere  and  shift  for 
themselves. 

EXTREMES  TO  BE  AVOIDED. 

Compulsory  arbitration  might  easily  go  beyond  this ; 
and  it  has  been  supposed  by  many  persons  that  it 
would  do  so  and  that  it  would  encounter  constitutional 
difficulties.  It  has  been  thought  that,  in  announcing  to 
a  corporation  what  would  be  a  fair  rate  of  wages,  the 
tribunal  would  virtually  say :  "You  must  pay  this  and 
}"0U  must  run  your  mill,  whether  you  want  to  or  not." 
This  would  be  regarded  as  an  interference  with  the 
rights  of  capital.  It  has  also  been  supposed  that  in 
announcing  the  fair  rate  to  the  workmen  the  court 
would  say  to  them :  "You  must  take  this  amount  and 
actually  work,  whether  you  wish  to  work  or  not,"  which 
would  be  considered  an  interference  with  personal  lib- 
erty. This  kind  of  compulsory  arbitration  would  en- 
counter practical  as  well  as  legal  difficulties,  since  forc- 
ing unwilling  men  to  work  or  convicting  and  punish- 
ing them  if  they  refused  to  work  would  be  far  beyond 
the  present  capacity  of  the  courts  and  the  police  force. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  we  say  to  a  body  of  strikers  "Con- 
tinue at  work  while  we  investigate  your  claims.  If 
you  demand  only  that  natural  rate  of  pay  which  repre- 
sents what  you  produce,  you  shall  be  protected  in  your 
tenure  of  place.     If  you  ask  more,  we  will  announce 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?         53 

the  rate  which  is  natural  and  fair  and  give  you  the  first 
option  of  accepting  it.  If  then  you  refuse  to  take  it, 
your  tenure  of  place  is  forfeited ;  the  employer  may  put 
new  men  in  your  places  and  they  shall  be  protected  by 
the  fullest  power  which  the  state  can  exercise.'' 

This  is  the  only  logical  outcome  of  the  present  anom- 
alous and  intolerable  condition.  As  it  is  there  are  those 
who  would  have  the  state  put  forth  its  ultimate  power 
wherever  a  strike  occurs  and  protect  to  the  uttermost 
the  non-union  men  whom  the  employing  corporations 
may  bring  in  to  break  up  the  movement  at  its  incep- 
tion. This  is  now  what  the  law  itself  formally  re- 
quires and  yet  there  is  not  much  actual  probability  that 
this  policy  will  be  adopted.  The  number  of  those  who 
demand  this  rigorous  action  is  too  small  to  count  as  a 
power  in  controlling  the  policy  of  the  state.  On  the 
other  hand  the  plan  that  would  do  openly  what  the 
state  often  does  tacitly  and  would  cease  altogether  to 
protect  non-union  men,  and  would  leave  them  to  be 
dealt  with  as  strikers  might  choose  to  deal  with  them 
is  unthinkable. 

IMPARTIAL  TRIBUNALS  MUST  BE  PROVIDED. 

Letting  the  present  semi-anarchism  continue  and  in- 
crease would  be  thought  of  only  if  there  were  no  way 
of  avoiding  it.  There  is  one  way  only  of  avoiding  it, 
and  that  is  by  providing  for  impartial  tribunals,  which 
shall  declare  on  what  terms  the  workmen  now  in  a 
given  industry  may  keep  their  places  in  preference  to 


54         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

other  men  and  on  what  conditions  the  other  men  may 
he  allowed  to  come  in  under  guarantees  that  will  make 
them  safe.  It  is  an  adjudicating-  of  the  organized 
workmen's  claim  to  their  tenure  of  place,  enforcing  this 
claim  when  it  is  made  on  just  terms,  and  otherwise  de- 
claring it  forfeited. 

This  question  in  regard  to  a  tenure  of  place  would 
arise  and  disorders  would  grow  out  of  it  if  no  trusts  ex- 
isted ;  but  the  trusts  are  giving  to  it  a  vastly  increased 
importance.  Not  only  has  the  issue  involved  in  the 
claim  of  the  man  to  his  job  now  to  be  fought  out  on  a 
greatly  enlarged  scale,  but  the  claim  itself  is  held  with 
increased  tenacity.  It  is  a  serious  matter  for  a  man 
to  be  turned  out  of  a  mill  even  if  other  mills  are  open 
to  him ;  but  it  is  a  far  more  serious  matter  for  him  to 
be  turned  out  of  his  industry  altogether.  In  these  days 
no  strike  that  is  general  in  an  industry  is  ever  allowed 
to  mean  that.  The  men  who  were  in  the  works  of  the 
steel  trust  before  the  late  strike  are  for  the  most  part 
there  now,  and  the  same  will  be  true  of  the  anthracite 
miners  whenever  the  present  strike  shall  be  settled. 
Society  has  accepted  the  fact  that  men  now  working 
in  any  industry  will,  as  a  practical  fact,  continue  to 
work  there.  It  now  lets  them  afuard  the  possession  of 
their  places  as  best  they  can  and  does  nothing  to  deter- 
mine when  they  have  a  right  to  them. 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?  55 

ANARCHY  INHERENT  IN  PRESENT  SITUATION. 

In  general  it  may  be  said  that  there  is  anarchy  in- 
herent in  the  present  situation,  and  in  two  ways  con- 
soHdations  are  making  it  worse.  First.  They  enable 
employers  to  put  the  costs  of  strikes  on  the  public  and 
makes  them  less  unwilling  to  have  them  long  con- 
tinued. The  burdens  fall  most  heavily  on  working- 
men,  who  are  the  most  numerous  and  most  sensitive 
part  of  the  public.  They  feel  the  injury  most  and  have 
most  of  it  to  feel.  Consolidations  also  make  the  work- 
man's tenure  of  place  more  important  to  him  and  impel 
him  to  defend  it,  though  he  can  do  this  onl}-  in  irregu- 
lar ways.  The  scale  on  which  all  this  is  taking  place 
is  growing  larger,  as  the  consolidation  of  capital  and 
the  organization  of  labor  progress ;  and  it  is  a  question 
of  time  when  the  evil  will  become  too  great  to  be  borne. 

I  should  like,  if  there  were  time,  to  try  to  prove  that 
the  kind  of  compulsory  arbitration  that  I  have  sug- 
gested is  practicable  and  to  try  to  prove  that  a  court 
that  settles  the  question  of  the  workman's  tenure  of 
place  has  an  obvious  and  practical  way  to  enforce  its 
decrees.  I  should  like  to  speak  of  the  attitude  of  par- 
ticular classes  toward  the  policy  of  authoritative  arbi- 
tration and  of  the  motives  that  some  of  them  find  for 
opposing  it.  I  have  devoted  the  brief  time  at  my  dis- 
posal to  considering  the  forces  that  make  steadily  and 
powerfully  in  the  direction  of  such  a  mode  of  settling 
an  otherwise  insoluble  problem.     In  the  end  the  deep 


56         IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE? 

acting  forces  must,  as  I  think,  prevail.  We  shall  have 
the  system,  though  it  would  be  rash  to  say  how  soon 
we  shall  have  it.  So  long  as  workmen  claim  a  right  to 
hold  their  places  and  actually  protect  them  by  irregular 
force  there  is  no  escaping  from  the  conclusion  that  so- 
ciety is  called  on  to  adjudicate  that  claim  and  to  en- 
force it  in  the  cases  in  which  it  is  to  be  enforced  at  all. 
vSo  much  of  compulsory  arbitration  as  this  signifies  so- 
ciety will  be  forced  to  resort  to,  if  it  will  not  do  what, 
in  medical  phrase,  may  be  called  "establishing  a  toler- 
ance" of  anarchism.  It  may  get  used  to  a  semi-an- 
archical state  and  endure  it  as  best  it  can.  Society  will 
not  force  men  to  work  if  they  do  not  wish  to  do  so. 
ft  Vv'ill  let  them  abandon  their  employments  definitely 
if  they  choose  to  do  this.  It  will  riot  let  them  be  forced 
ruthlessly  out  for  demanding  a  just  rate  of  pay,  but  on 
the  other  hand,  it  will  not  let  them  demand  an  unjust 
rate  and  fight  off  the  men  who  will  accept  a  fair  one, 

SUBSTITUTE  JUSTICE  FOR  FORCE. 

It  could  be  shown  if  there  were  sufficient  time,  that 
so  much  of  authoritative  arbitration  as  this  signifies 
v/ould  protect  both  labor  and  capital  from  wrongs 
wliich  they  now  suffer  through  the  irregularities  of  the 
present  industrial  state,  and  that  in  all  probability  it 
Vv'ould  result  in  insuring  rates  of  wages  that  would 
come  nearer  to  the  normal  standards  based  on  the 
productivity  of  labor  than  do  the  rates  which  now  pre- 
vail.    It  is  evident  on  the  face  of  the  measure  that  it 


IS    COMPULSORY    ARBITRATION    INEVITABLE?  57 

would  have  a  vast  moral  advantage  over  the  plan  of 
fixing  wages  by  the  battle  of  muscular  power  against 
a  money  power.  It  \vould  substitute  justice  for  force 
at  a  critical  point  and  on  a  vast  scale.  It  would  do 
much  to  make  democracy  sound  and  fraternity  possi- 
ble. It  w^ould  bring  within  reach  the  commercial  tri- 
umphs of  which  we  have  been  dreaming ;  for  it  would 
remove  a  serious  handicap  under  which  we  are  now 
entering  the  struggle  of  nations  for  foreign  trade. 
Other  things  being  equal  the  nation  that  will  win  in 
that  field  is  the  one  that  shall  first  live  at  peace  v/ith 
itself.  If  law  is  to  rule  and  democracy  is  to  succeed 
and  become  permanent,  if  our  country  is  to  become 
rich,  contented  and  fraternal  and  is  to  have  its  vast 
strength  available  in  the  contest  for  tlie  prizes  of  a 
world-wide  commerce,  a  system  of  authoritative  arbi- 
tration is  inevitable. 


ARBITRATION. 


HERMAN    JUSTI,    COMMISSIONER,   ILLINOIS   COAL   OPERA- 
TORS'  ASSOCIATION. 


ARBITRATION. 


BY     HERMAN     JUSTI,      COMMISSIONER,      ILLINOIS      COAL 
operators'  ASSOCIATION. 


ITS  USES  AND  ABUSES. 


The  subject  of  this  address  is  suggested  by  the  free- 
dom with  which  the  term  "arbitration"  is  used  as  a 
word  to  conjure  with.  Its  meaning  seems  to  be  Httle 
understood,  and  just  at  this  time  it  is  confounded, 
even  by  men  who  should  know  better,  with  mediation, 
concihation  or  friendly  intervention.  To  many  peo- 
ple it  is  something  new,  and  to  the  popular  mind  its 
very  novelty  places  a  dangerous  glamour  about  it. 
The  gravity  of  arbitration  and  all  that  it  involves  is 
little  appreciated,  and  herein  lies  one  of  the  prime 
causes  for  its  abuse.  Wise  labor  leaders  and  thought- 
ful employers  of  labor  view  it  alike  with  apprehension. 

Any  plan  of  settling  labor  disputes  that  is  labeled 
"Arbitration"  seems  to  catch  the  popular  fancy;  but 
as  in  all  other  matters,  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the 
issues  involved  and  understand  the  question  least,  are 

6i 


62 


ARBITRATION. 


the  very  persons  who  discuss  it  most,  and  who  are 
most  insistent^  upon  its  adoption  for  everything.  With 
the  masses  arbitration  is  the  first  thought,  while  with 
those  who  are  constantly  dealing  with  labor  disputes, 
or  with  those  who  have  something  at  stake,  is  a  last 
resort. 

Speaking  from  the  viewpoint  of  one  whose  time  is 
entirely  occupied  in  adjusting  differences  arising  be- 
tween employer  and  employe  in  the  coal  mining  indus- 
try of  Illinois,  I  say  that  arbitration  should  never  be 
resorted  to  save  in  an  extremity,  and  that  the  energy 
and  interest  displayed  in  advocating  its  general  adop- 
tion could  be  better  applied  to  all  those  simpler  and 
more  practical  plans  and  methods  of  adjustment  de- 
signed to  render  arbitration  unnecessary. 

The  popular  idea  of  arbitration  is  an  erroneous  one, 
and  if  it  prevail  the  labor  problem  will  be  complicated 
instead  of  simplified.  Arbitration's  popular  synonym 
is  "compromise,"  and  there  is  nothing  more  mischiev- 
ous than  a  compromise  on  any  question  of  principle. 
Someone  says :  "Let  the  fine-spun  rights  of  the  case 
go,  but  get  to  work !"  Could  anything  be  more  de- 
structive of  the  foundations  of  our  industrial  life? 
There  are  some  compromises  which  bring  temporary 
good,  it  is  true,  but  ultimate  destruction  must  result, 
and  many  who  have  fulfilled  the  demands  of  the  writ- 
ten law  will  stand  accused  before  the  "bar  of  eternal 
justice"  for  a  wily  evasion  of  those  invisible  questions 
and  meanings  which  have  their  answer  deep  in  the 
breast  of  humanity. 


ARBITRATION.  63 

"What  is  fairer  than  arbitration  ?"  is  a  query  heard 
on  all  sides.  Nothing  is  fairer  than  arbitration  when 
arbitration  is  positively  required,  when  all  the  parties 
to  the  dispute  desire  their  differences  arbitrated,  and 
when  the  arbiters  are  men  who  have  been  selected  be- 
cause of  their  special  fitness  for  the  work. 

ATTRIBUTES  OF  THE  ARBITER. 

The  difficulties  of  wise  and  just  arbitration  may  be 
faintly  comprehended  when  we  fairly  appreciate  the 
qualities  required  of  an  arbiter  of  the  first  class.  A 
judge  upon  the  bench  may  wisely  and  justly  admin- 
ister his  high  office,  and  yet  lack  some  of  the  essentials 
of  an  ideal  arbiter  in  labor  disputes ;  for  the  arbiter 
cannot  be  controlled  by  general  rules  or  statutes,  by 
precedent,  by  general  information  or  opinion,  or  by 
technicalities,  and  he  must  investigate  the  facts  of  the 
case  in  such  a  way  as  the  varied  duties  of  the  office  of 
a  judge  will  not  permit.  A  combination  of  the  qualifi- 
cations of  an  arbiter  is  indeed  rare,  for  he  should  be  a 
person  possessed  of  strong  human  sympathies,  with  a 
calm,  judicial  mind,  with  business  training  or  natural 
business  genius,  a  keen  sense  of  right,  true  courage,  a 
knowledge  of  the  subject  which  he  is  called  on  to  con- 
sider in  all  its  phases,  and  a  clear  and  almost  prophetic 
view  of  the  ultimate  consequences  of  the  verdict  he  is 
to  render.  A  proper  recognition  of  the  true  dignity 
of  both  labor  and  capital  is  an  essential  element  when 
the  equal  rights  of  employer  and  employe  are  involved, 


64  ARBITRATION. 

and  the  arbiter  who,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  scorns 
the  deification  of  mammon  and  avoids  demagogic  al- 
lurements, and  who  will  in  turbulent  seasons  keep  him- 
self in  mid-stream  with  every  faculty  intelligently, 
calmly  and  sympathetically  outstretched  toward  either 
shore  of  feeling,  can  send  upon  the  most  troubled  and 
vexed  questions  the  satisfying  unction  of  justice,  which 
is  ultimately  synonymous  with  peace.  There  are  few 
dangers  for  the  arbiter  who  refuses  to  cling  to  the  en- 
ticing shore  of  popular  sentiment,  which  too  often  in- 
volves the  wreckage  of  great  enterprises  on  somebody's, 
or  some  corporation's,  sordid  little  rock  of  individual 
interest. 

ARBITRATION    A    MAKE-SHIFT. 

It  must  thus  be  clearly  seen,  that  arbitration  as  a 
make-shift  is  an  absurdity,  utterly  useless  as  a  means 
of  promoting  industrial  peace,  and  mischievous  in  its 
consequences.  It  must  also  be  just  as  clear  that  arbi- 
tration is  equally  acceptable  to  employer  and  employe 
when  both  believe  something  is  to  be  gained  by  it,  and 
it  meets  with  equal  opposition  when  there  is  a  mutual 
conviction  of  impending  loss.  "Old  Adam"  is  always 
on  deck ;  crafty,  cunning,  but  not  wisely  selfish.  If 
wisely  selfish,  we  should  hear  of  "lockouts"  and 
"strikes"  only  at  long  intervals,  for  the  "wisely  sel- 
fish," if  not  endowed  with  good  business  sense,  seek 
at  least  to  cultivate  it,  and  here  let  it  be  understood  that 
the  labor  problem  is  a  business  problem,  and  that  the 


ARBITRATION.  65 

only  relations  existing  between  employer  and  employe 
are  contract  relations,  while  any  other  relations  are 
purely  voluntary  or  elective  and  can  only  exist  by 
mutual  agreement, 

AS  AN    HEROIC  REMEDY. 

While  firmly  and  confidently  believing  in  the  advan- 
tages of  proper  arbitration,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
the  only  way  to  render  arbitration  effective  is  to  ren- 
der it  so  costly — so  very  difficult  to  obtain,  that  it  will 
be  resorted  to  as  an  heroic  remedy  and  not  as  a  pana- 
cea for  every  ill.  That  is  to  say,  it  should  be  applied 
to  the  labor  malady  in  an  extremity,  or  when  every 
other  remedy  has  failed. 

The  truth  of  this  should  be  patent,  for  the  secret 
of  all  absence  of  discord  in  the  family  system  is  the 
co-operative  spirit  harmoniously  applied  to  the  recog- 
nized rights  of  the  individual  members,  and  where  this 
exists  there  is  no  need  to  resort  to  the  undignified  for- 
mality of  calling  in  the  traditional  wise  counsellor  or 
friend  of  the  family,  to  settle  the  internal  difference. 
An  industry,  like  a  family,  should  not  grow  dependent 
upon  an  alien  strength  to  settle  its  disputes,  for  its 
success  and  prosperity  rest  upon  its  own  intelligent 
ability  to  adjust  such  differences.  If  arbitration  is  too 
easily  accessible  it  may  defeat  the  very  end  desired. 

To  illustrate,  let  us  suppose  there  is  either  an  un- 
derstanding between  disputants  at  a  certain  industrial 
plant  to  the  effect  that  all  parties  shall  continue  at  work 


66  ARBITRATION. 

pending  an  investigation  of  differences  and  disputes 
and  of  a  decision  by  a  board  of  arbitration  agreed  upon 
to  adjust  these  differences  or  disputes,  or  there  is  not 
such  an  understanding.  If  such  an  understanding  ex- 
ists, the  faikire  to  reach  a  decision  may  seriously  injure 
the  laborer ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  if  there  be  no  un- 
derstanding, there  is  danger  that  the  industry  involved 
may  be  made  idle  indefinitely,  to  the  serious  or  disas- 
trous injury  of  the  owners,  and  the  injury  of  either  is 
unquestionably  the  injury  of  both. 

ENCOURAGE  SELF-RELIANCE. 

There  is  a  further  and  a  better  reason  for  deferring 
arbitration  until  all  other  means  of  adjustment  are  ex- 
hausted. In  my  opinion,  differences  and  disputes 
should  be  settled  as  near  their  source  as  possible,  and 
with  the  least  possible  delay.  Introducing  a  third 
party  often  complicates  and  seriously  delays  a  settle- 
ment. Weakness,  vanity,  error,  like  threads  inhar- 
monious in  color  woven  in  a  fabric,  run  through  our 
whole  human  nature  from  the  most  exalted  to  the  most 
humble.  All  alike  shrink  from  the  exposure  of  per- 
sonal weakness,  error  of  judgment,  or  wrong-doing. 
All  alike,  whether  base  or  noble,  want  to  share  in  the 
final  and  wise  adjustment.  It  is  well,  therefore,  that 
arbitration  is  not  only  so  remote  from  us  as  to  keep  us 
from  temptation,  but  so  difficult  of  access  that  all  par- 
ties in  interest  will  feel  they  must  try  to  work  out  their 
own  salvation  without  it.     Thus  arbitration  will  be  dig- 


ARBITRATION.  67 

nified  and  respected  and  its  decrees  when  rendered  will 
be  trusted  and  obeyed. 

To  build  up  in  our  people  the  spirit  of  self-reliance 
is  essential.  Break  down  confidence  in  self,  or  lessen 
the  consciousness  of  our  responsibility  to  ourselves 
and  to  our  fellows,  and  we  become  a  race  of  weak- 
hngs,  shirks  and  demagogues,  and  the  very  institutions 
formed  to  prevent  trouble  become  nurseries  where 
trouble  is  fomented  and  demagogues  and  time-servers 
are  created.  If  arbitration  is  made  so  easy  that  em- 
ployer or  employe  can  resort  to  it  upon  any  pretext, 
ihen  the  result  will  be  that  wherever  it  is  believed  any 
advantage  can  be  obtained  by  one  side  or  the  other,  -the 
responsibility  of  settling  questions  in  dispute  will  never 
be  assumed,  as  it  should  be,  by  those  immediately  in 
authority  or  interest.  Thus  arbitration  will,  in  the  very 
riature  of  things,  soon  be  in  bad  repute.  No  dignified 
plan  of  arbitration  wnll  ever  be  successful  until  all  wise 
and  honorable  means  have  been  exhausted  in  devising 
a  simpler,  quicker  and  equally  fair  method  of  settling 
the  vast  majority  of  such  disputes  as  arise  from  day  to 
day. 

UNEQUAL  CHANCES. 

The  proposition  to  arbitrate  under  any  and  all  con- 
ditions is  not  unlike  the  proposition  of  a  "New  Eng- 
lander,"  who,  having  been  engaged  in  a  game  of  poker 
with  a  Kentuckian  and  having  lost,  suggested  that  his 
money  be  returned  to  him  and  that  a  fresh  start  in  a 
new  game  be  made. 


68  ARBITRATION. 

"No,"  replied  the  Kentuckian,  "I  have  your  money 
and  the  game  is  ended." 

There  is  no  more  reason  why  under  all  circum- 
stances the  proposition  to  arbitrate  should  be  agreed  to 
than  there  was  reason  for  the  Kentuckian  to  return  the 
money  he  had  won  in  order  that  the  unfortunate  New 
Englander  might  renew  the  play. 

Another  story  suggests  itself  which  will  further  il- 
lustrate the  absurdity  of  most  proposals  to  arbitrate. 
In  the  wilds  of  the  far  West  an  Illinoisan  and  a  Ken- 
tuckian met;  the  former  had  a  deck  of  cards  and  the 
latter  a  bottle  of  "Bourbon."  The  Illinoisan  proposed 
a  game  to  the  Kentuckian  to  determine  who  should 
possess  the  bottle.  "No,"  said  the  Kentuckian,  "the 
bottle  is  mine  now,  and  much  as  I  love  the  game,  I  do 
not  play  it  and  play  fool  at  the  same  time,  but  to  show 
my  friendliness  we  will  share  the  contents  of  the  bottle 
as  long  as  it  lasts."  Here  was  practical  common  sense, 
and  the  spirit  of  conciliation. 

Thus  we  see  that  no  one  wishes  to  submit  to  arbi- 
tration where  all  the  chances  favor  a  rival  and  where 
those  who  have  something  to  lose  have  nothing  what- 
ever to  gain.  The  man,  whether  employer  or  employe, 
who  has  everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  arbi- 
tration always  fa /ors  it.     Could  anything:  be  plainer? 

TIIR  ANTIIRACriF.  STRIKE. 

Let  us  consider  a  serious  dispute,  fresh  in  the  public 
mind,  to  illustrate  the  unreasonableness  of  the  proposi- 
tion to  arbitrate  it. 


AKBITKATION.  69 

The  strike  in  the  anthracite  coal  field  in  Pennsyl- 
vania was  preceded  by  a  proposition  made  by  Mr.  John 
]\Iitchell,  president  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of 
America,  on  behalf  of  the  miners,  to  the  operators  in 
the  anthracite  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania.  President 
Mitchell  proposed  for  consideration  of  a  board  of  ar- 
bitration four  questions  or  points  in  dispute  between 
miners  and  operators.     These  were,  let  us  say : 

I  St.     An  advance  in  wages. 

2nd.  Reduction  in  the  hours  of  labor  from  ten  to 
eight  hours  per  day. 

3rd.  Paying  for  actual  weight  of  coal  instead  of  by 
the  car. 

4th.     Recognition  of  the  union. 

The  anthracite  coal  mine  operators  declined  to  arbi- 
trate. However  much  they  may  otherwise  desei've 
censure,  admitting  for  the  sake  of  argument  that  cen- 
sure is  deserved — they  not  only  acted  properly  in  re- 
fusing to  arbitrate,  but  they  did  exactly  what  Mr. 
Mitchell  and  the  miners'  organization  would  have  done 
if  the  converse  of  the  miners'  proposition  had  been 
submitted  to  them. 

Let  us  suppose  the  following  proposition  as  coming 
from  the  operators  and  submitted  to  the  miners : 

1st.    A  reduction  of  wages. 

2nd.  Increase  in  the  hours  of  labor  from  ten  to 
twelve  hours. 

3rd.    Enlargement  of  coal  cars  now  used. 


yO  ARBITRATION. 

4th.  Refusal  to  employ  an}^  miners  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America. 

What  reply  would  Mr.  Mitchell  have  made?  Mr. 
Mitchell  would  have  said — "it  is  absurd."  Why?  Be- 
cause, as  a  result,  no  possible  benefit  could  accrue  to 
the  miners.  That  would  be  a  correct  answer.  The 
anthracite  operators  declined  for  the  same  reason, 
since  they  could  not  possibly  gain  anything  by  arbitra- 
tion, and  they  might  lose  much.  The  fact  is,  Mr. 
Mitchell,  who  is  a  very  able  and  a  far-seeing  man  and 
as  scrupulously  honest  as  he  is  able,  could  never  have 
expected  the  anthracite  operators  to  accept  his  prop- 
osition ;  but  he  had  a  right  to  make  such  a  proposition 
and  he  had  a  reasonable  right  also  to  believe  that  the 
anthracite  operators  might  offer  a  counter  proposition, 
or  at  least  make  some  reply  less  cold,  more  conciliatory, 
less  defiant,  than  the  now  famous  reply  couched  in  the 
undiplomatic  language — "We  have  nothing  to  arbi- 
trate." 

A  TRAGIC   MISTAKE. 

This  citation  is  not  made  in  criticism  of  either  Mr. 
Mitchell,  or  of  the  anthracite  miners,  or  of  the  anthra- 
cite operators,  nor  do  I  mean  to  express  an  opinion  on 
the  merits  of  the  dispute. 

The  anthracite  operators  are  total  strangers  to  me, 
and  therefore  I  could  not  be  for  or  against  them  on 
personal  grounds.     I  do  know  Mr.  Mitchell,  and  my ' 
confidence  is  so  strong  in  his  ability,  in  his  disinter- 
ested devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  laborer,  in  his  love 


ARBITRATION.  7 1 

of  truth  and  justice,  that  I  wish  with  all  my  heart  these 
anthracite  operators,  who  are  painted  as  black  as  dark- 
est night,  would  take  him  into  their  confidence,  just 
to  show  the  world  that  the  so-called  "cruel  coal  baron" 
and  the  "walking  delegate"  are  not  so  far  apart  and 
not  so  unlike,  but  like  the  rest  of  us,  are  full  of  human 
weaknesses  and  yet  stamped  with  God's  likeness. 

It  is  not,  I  say,  my  purpose  to  criticize  either  Mr. 
Mitchell  or  the  anthracite  coal  operators.  I  only  wish 
to  make  clear  my  opposition  to  indiscriminate  arbitra- 
tion, as  seems  to  be  universally  urged  in  the  present  in- 
stance, and  to  any  ill-considered  reply  to  such  a  request 
as  Mr.  Mitchell's ;  for,  after  all,  he  was  simply  exercis- 
ing the  right  of  petition  on  behalf  of  150,000  mmers. 

I  have  merely  sought  in  mentioning  these  incidents, 
to  demonstrate  how  a  short  answer  will  have  the  oppo- 
site effect  of  a  soft  answer,  and  to  show  how  far  from 
the  truth  are  those  who  think  that  arbitration  is  always 
a  fair  and  simple  thing,  as  well  as  to  point  out  what 
tragedies  may  follow  from  seemingly  unimportant  mis- 
takes. 

Under  existing  conditions  I  do  not  know  that  the 
strike  in  the  anthracite  field  could  have  been  averted, 
but  I  do  believe  that  it  has  been  prolonged  by  an  utter 
absence  of  tact  on  the  part  of  the  operators  and  by  the 
intermeddling  of  well-meaning  parties  who  have  con- 
sidered themselves  specially  qualified  to  adjust  the  dis- 
pute. 

Political  intrigue  and  interferences  have  not  helped 


72  ARBITRATION. 

ill  the  present  instance,  nor  will  a  wise  precedent  be  es- 
tablished for  the  future,  should  the  present  strike  be 
terminated  through  such  an  agency. 

WHAT   MIGHT  ENSUE. 

The  most  persistent  advocates  of  indiscriminate  arbi- 
tration are  generally  of  the  class  who  know  least  about 
the  danger  of  arbitration,  for  the  reason  that  the  prop- 
osition to  arbitrate  is  seldom  carried  home  to  them. 
Those  who  have  most  to  say  upon  the  subject,  among 
the  class  of  our  citizens  who  are  at  the  same  time  the 
most  intelligent,  are  notably  our  clergymen,  our  law- 
yers and  our  editors.  Some  of  the  difificulties  of  arbi- 
tration, as  they  appear  to  others,  might  be  carried  home 
to  them. 

Let  us  say,  for  example,  there  is  a  dispute  as  to 
what  salary  a  certain  widely-known,  distinguished  city 
clergyman  should  be  paid,  and  to  settle  the  controversy 
it  is  submitted  to  a  board  of  arbitration.  Again,  here 
is  the  question  of  the  fee  of  a  prominent  city  lawyer  in 
dispute ;  this  also  is  to  be  submitted  to  arbitration. 
Here  is  an  editor,  or  newspaper  publisher,  the  subscrip- 
tion price  of  whose  paper  is  in  dispute.  All  of  these 
— the  representatives  of  the  learned  professions — have 
acquired  the  habit  of  saying  that  honest  and  intelligent 
arbiters  will  untangle  the  knottiest  proposition.  Sup- 
pose the  city  clergyman's  salary  is  to  be  decided  by  a 
board  of  arbitration,  and  it  is  submitted  to  one  com- 
posed of  rural  preachers,  who  are  admitted  to  be  hon- 


ARBITRATION.  73 

est  and  intelligent  men.  The  salary  of  the  famous  city 
clergyman  would  in  all  probability  assume  sorry  pro- 
portions. 

Then,  again,  let  a  board  of  arbitration,  made  up  of 
fair  and  honest  country  lawyers,  pass  upon  the  fee  of 
a  city  lawyer.  Does  anyone  wonder  what  the  result 
would  be? 

Here  is  the  publisher  of  a  newspaper  in  a  town  of 
50,000,  and  the  public  complains  at  the  obligation  to 
pay  five  cents  per  copy  for  a  local  paper.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  subscription  price  of  the  paper  is  submitted 
to  arbitration  and  the  board  is  made  up  of  newspaper 
readers  of  a  large  city.  If  they  render  a  decision  based 
upon  the  ordinary  rules,  what  will  be  the  result?  They 
will  decide  that  the  rural  paper  is  worth  certainly  no 
more  than  the  great  newspapers  published  in  New 
York  and  Chicago  or  Philadelphia  and  Boston. 

In  the  coal  mining  industry  of  Illinois,  arbitration 
by  outsiders  would  be  well-nigh  impossible,  whether 
the  interests  of  employers  or  employes  are  to  be  con- 
sidered. Why?  Because  in  the  coal  industry  of  Ill- 
inois certain  fixed  or  accepted  principles  of  political 
economy  were  thrown  overboard  long  ago.  It  is  no 
longer  a  question  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest — a  ques- 
tion of  natural  conditions — a  question  of  the  earning 
capacity  of  the  workmen.  It  is  the  competitive  condi- 
tions which  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  order 
to  determine  the  scale  of  wages  for  mining  coal ;  it  is  a 
question  of  giving  or  of  dividing  work  in  mines  and 


74  ARBITRATION. 

among  miners  in  the  different  coal  fields  of  the  state. 
Arbiters  not  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  the  details  of 
coal  mining  or  with  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  coal 
mining  industry  in  Illinois  mig:ht  succeed  in  either  arbi- 
trating some  of  the  operators  out  of  business,  or  in  arbi- 
trating a  large  number  of  deserving  workmen  out  of 
employment,  because  most  men  not  in  the  industry  itself 
would  be  governed  by  the  general  laws  of  trade  or  of 
political  economy.  Is  it  surprising,  therefore,  that  cor- 
porations representing  great  industrial  interests,  or 
labor  organizations  representing  the  sacred  and  vital 
interests  of  laborers,  hesitate  to  arbitrate,  and  especially 
to  arbitrate  through  an  alien  body? 

JOINT  AGREEMENTS. 

The  coal  miners  and  coal  mine  operators  came  to- 
gether in  1898  and  adopted  what  is  known  in  the  bitu- 
minous coal  fields  of  the  central  states  as  the  system 
of  "joint  agreements,"  or  what  is  called  in  the  schools 
of  economics,  a  system  of  "joint  bargaining."  While, 
perhaps,  only  minimum  good  of  it  has  thus  far  been 
realized  by  its  founders,  still  it  seems  to  me  the  most 
practical  and  equitable  system  ever  devised,  because 
it  not  only  recognizes  the  contract  relations  of  em- 
ployer and  employe,  and  it  sometimes  provides  a  way 
of  adjusting  differences  and  disputes  arising  between 
them  and  under  the  agreements,  within  the  industry 
itself,  but  it  points  the  way  for  others  who  have  known 
the  maximum  of  discord,  the  way  to  industrial  peace, 


ARBITRATION.  75 

when  capital  is  once  generally  organized,  as  it  must 
and  is  certain  to  organize  in  the  near  future.  Thus 
home  disputes  are  kept  at  home  and  the  soiled  family 
linen  is  not  laundered  where  a  curious  public  will  gaze 
at  it,  comment  and  make  mischief.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  even  in  the  coal  mining  industry  of  the  bitumi- 
nous fields  where  coal  miners  and  operators  are  on  easy 
terms,  there  is  still  some  reluctance,  if  not  suspicion, 
regarding  what  might  be  designated  "Arbitration,"  and 
that,  too,  as  applied  and  regulated  within  the  industry 
itself.  As  showing  this  to  be  true,  here  is  one  of  a 
series  of  important  resolutions  proposed  at  the  Inter- 
state Convention  of  coal  miners  and  coal  mine  opera- 
tors held  at  Indianapolis  in  February,  1902  : 

"Confidently  believing  the  system  of  the  joint  agree- 
ments, under  a  joint  movement  of  employers  and  em- 
ployes, to  be  a  wise  and  safe  system  if  honestly  and 
faithfully  adhered  to,  and  to  perpetuate  and  perfect  that 
system,  if  possible,  in  the  coal  mining  industry  repre- 
senting the  bituminous  coal  mining  industry  in  this  In- 
terstate Convention,  we  declare  ourselves  ready  to  pro- 
vide for  the  settlement  of  disputes  or  differences  aris- 
ing under  our  interstate  agreements  by  the  formation 
of  a  board  of  referees  to  which  such  differences  or  dis- 
putes may  be  carried,  in  an  extremity,  for  final  adjust- 
ment." 

The  remaining  resolutions  of  the  series  were  adopted 
unanimously,  but  the  one  above  quoted  was  opposed 
and  voted  down  by  the  miners  of  the  four  states  and  the 


jd  ARBITRATION. 

operators  of  three  states  represented  in  the  joint  con- 
vention. If  afraid  of  themselves,  why  not  afraid  of 
an  ahen  agency  ? 

WHO  IS  THE  THIRD  PARTY? 

When  strikes  occur  and  when  there  is  talk  of  arbi- 
tration a  good  deal  is  said  on  the  subject  of  a  "third 
party."  Who  compose  the  "third  party?"  Are  we 
not  every  one  almost  at  one  and  the  same  time  more  or 
less  of  the  first,  second  and  third  party?  If  there  is  a 
strike  in  the  office  of  the  publisher,  or  of  the  merchant, 
the  parties  directly  concerned  are  of  the  first  or  second 
party,  while  the  same  parties  are  of  the  third  party 
when  there  is  a  strike  in  some  other  establishment  or 
industry.  It  is  this  so-called  third  party  which,  when 
it  does  not  belong  to  the  first  or  second  party  at  the 
time,  often  urges  compulsory  arbitration.  Compulsory 
arbitration  should  therefore  not  be  demanded  unless  the 
first,  second  and  third  party  are  all  agreed,  after  due 
deliberation,  that  compulsory  arbitration  is  not  only 
the  best  form  of  arbitration,  but  that  it  is  absolutely 
needed  and  that  it  can  be  adopted  with  safety  under  our 
peculiar  form  of  government,  and  in  our  land  of  varied 
interests.  But  to  me  it  seems  that  we  can  never  agree 
in  this  country  on  compulsory  arbitration,  though  in 
quasi-public  enterprises  there  are  times  when  it  might 
seem  to  be  desirable.  Some  law  may  be  needed  to  pre- 
vent "strikes"  or  "lockouts"  where,  bv  reason  of  these, 
travel  is  stopped  or  rendered  hazardous,  or  where  the 


ARBITRATION.  Tl 

supply  of  light  and  water  is  shut  off.  When  such  a 
law,  however,  is  enacted,  it  must  not  be  left  either  to 
the  agents  of  great  corporations,  to  our  labor  organiza- 
tions, or  to  the  amateurs  now  clamoring  for  it,  but  it 
must  be  drafted  by  the  most  experienced,  the  wisest, 
the  fairest  and  the  most  far-seeing  students  not  only  of 
political  economy,  but  of  the  existing  conditions.  In 
the  matter  of  putting  such  a  law  on  our  statute  books, 
let  us  make  haste  slowly.  Let  us  trust  to  a  wise  form 
of  self-government  in  such  matters  being  evolved  with- 
in all  our  industries  in  the  process  of  industrial  evolu- 
tion, and  let  us  concern  ourselves  less  with  all  forms  of 
arbitration  and  more  with  plans  for  rendering  arbi- 
tration unnecessary. 

How  many  employing  firms  or  companies  who  now 
seem  to  think  that  compulsory  arbitration,  or  some 
form  of  arbitration — such  as  that  which  it  proposes  to 
force  upon  a  great  industry  by  the  power  of  public 
opinion — how  many  of  such  will  stand  for  it?  How 
many  organizations  of  labor  will  stand  for  arbitration 
that  is  either  forced  upon  them  by  reason  of  some  law 
upon  the  statute  books,  or  by  reason  of  the  power  of 
an  unenlightened  and  unwise  public  opinion. 

Both  well-informed,  expert  authority  on  the  side  of 
labor  and  on  the  side  of  capital,  have  pronounced 
forced  arbitration  or  compulsory  arbitration  useless,  if 
not  a  failure.  Only  that  form  of  arbitration  is  wise 
and  salutary  which,  besides  being  born  of  our  ultimate 
needs,  is  the  result  of  our  ever-growing  love  for  and 


78  ARBITRATION. 

our  ever-clearer  insight  into  the  principles  of  justice, 
divine  in  their  origin  and  nobly  human  in  their  applica- 
tion. 

ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   EMPLOYER    CLASS. 

All  talk  of  arbitration  or  anything  akin  to  it  is  well- 
nigh  idle,  unless  we  take  account  of  organization — not 
only  as  applied  to  employe,  but  organization  as  applied 
to  employer.  Whether  we  oppose  it  or  favor  it,  organ- 
ized labor  has  come  to  stay,  and  it  must  therefore  be 
considered  because  we  must  deal  with  it.  The  em- 
ployer class  must  organize  to  a  point  of  excellence  and 
efficiency  where  organized  labor  will  respect  it. 

/  am  convinced  that  only  by  organization  can  com- 
mon labor  get  the  maximum  wages  for  its  hire.  I  am 
equally  well  convinced  that  only  through  organisation 
of  the  employer  class  zvill  capital  obtain  from  organised 
labor  the  most  and  the  best  service  ih  return  for  the 
wages  paid. 

It  is  my  belief  that  all  great  departments  of  industry 
must  have  their  departments  of  labor  if  serious  friction 
is  to  be  avoided,  and  if  the  dividends  of  capital  and  the 
wages  of  labor  arc  to  be  fairly  and  wisely  adjusted. 
When  we  pause  to  reflect,  is  it  not  remarkable  that  all 
the  departments  of  great  business  enterprises  have  their 
specially  appointed  heads  to  direct  and  to  manage,  with 
the  exception  of  the  department  of  labor?  This  is  al- 
lowed to  get  along  as  best  it  can,  and  yet  what  depart- 
ment of  any  great  business  enterprise  is  of  equal  im- 


ARBITRATION.  79 

portance?  This  seems  the  more  inexpHcable  and  in- 
defensible in  view  of  the  fact  that  when  we  reduce  the 
whole  problem  of  business  competition  to  concrete  form 
there  are  only  two  propositions  after  all  with  which  the 
business  man  has  to  deal :  the  price  of  labor  and  the 
rate  of  interest. 

When  we  stop  to  consider  this  question  reduced  to 
its  extremity  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  the  past  and 
before  labor  was  organized  the  breach  between  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employe  became  serious.  Labor  in  the 
past  has  made  its  sacrifices  when  times  became  hard  and 
when  competition  was  sharp  and  ruinous,  so  it  was  fair 
labor  should  have  shared  in  the  benefits  of  whatever 
prosperity  the  country  at  large  enjoyed.  The  law  of 
supply  and  demand  as  applied  to  the  human  commodity 
is  revolting  to  me,  and  that  this  law  has  been  too  rigor- 
ously applied  in  the  past  will  go  far  to  explain  the  wide 
breach  between  capital  and  labor. 

Though  we  must  submit  to  the  application  of  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand,  it  must  not  be  with  an  utter 
disregard  of  the  rights,  feelings  and  well  being  of  our 
fellow  man. 

With  the  organization  of  labor  this  evil  has  been 
greatly  mitigated  and  a  new  problem  has  arisen,  easy 
enough  to  temporarily  solve  in  prosperous  times  like 
the  present  period,  but  what  may  we  expect  when  re- 
verses come  and  a  reduction  in  wages  may  seem  neces- 
sary? Many  vital  questions  will  arise  calling  for 
something  more  than  passing  attention.     To  arrange 


8o  ARBITRATION. 

an  equitable  basis  for  determining  such  matters  must, 
therefore,  be  the  work  of  some  one,  not  only  specially 
appointed,  but  specially  qualified ;  and  what  is  true  of 
one  industry  is  true  of  all  industries  collectively.  All 
of  these  industries  collectively  must  have  their  force  of 
specialists,  who  are  experts  in  this  department  of 
science,  to  whom  should  be  committed  all  those  ques- 
tions afiFecting  capital  in  its  relations  to  labor. 

GOOD  SAMARITAN    NEEDED. 

In  no  age  of  the  world  has  the  labor  problem  seemed 
either  more  complicated  or  more  important,  and  in  solv- 
ing it  we  must  look  to  experts  or  specialists — to  wise, 
strong,  fair  men  who  will  consecrate  their  lives  and  ded- 
icate their  talents  to  its  proper  solution.  It  is  a  great, 
vast,  intricate  problem,  and  it  is  not  enough, 
therefore,  that  we  have  "good  Samaritans," 
wise  philanthropists,  kind  and  generous  men 
and  women  in  large  centers  of  population 
helping  to  solve  it,  but  what  we  need  is  more 
such  lives  as  these,  consecrated  to  humanity  in  the 
lowly  walks  of  life  and  in  out-of-the-way  places.  All 
of  the  world's  suffering,  discord,  want  and  ignorance  is 
not  confined  to  the  larger  cities,  for  in  the  smaller  man- 
ufacturing towns,  and  particularly  in  the  mining  camps, 
may  be  found  a  class  of  citizens  who  are  both  needy 
and  deserving,  and  who  by  accident  of  birth  must  tread 
the  wine-press  alone.  These,  if  benefited,  would  give 
back  with  wholesome  interest. 


ARBITRATION.  8l 

The  youth  in  these  locahties  should  appeal  to  those 
who  seek  to  make  the  world  wiser  and  better,  and  it 
is  plainly  the  duty  of  true  philanthropy  to  provide  every 
means  for  the  development  of  the  heart  and  mind  and 
brawn  of  youth. 

In  obscure  neighborhoods  opportunities  for  growth 
are  sadly  limited,  nor  can  they  be  created  when  the  ma- 
terial of  which  opportunities  are  made  does  not  exist. 
The  harvest  is  great  in  such  sections,  but  the  laborers 
are  few,  and  wise  and  generous  men  must  either  pro- 
vide advantages  or  carry  the  youth  into  an  atmosphere 
where  his  mental,  moral  and  physical  nature  may 
escape  the  sickening  blight  of  unwholesome  environ- 
ment. 

SEEING   OUR   DUTY   CLEARLY. 

An  occasion  like  the  present  confers  upon  society 
only  the  minimum  of  good  unless  the  lessons  here 
learned  and  the  resolutions  here  formed  are  religiously 
enforced  day  by  day.  It  is  altogether  too  true  that 
as  citizens,  though  declaring  our  devotion  to  our  coun- 
try, we  give  to  it  our  last  instead  of  our  first  thoughts 
and  we  proffer  it  with  reluctance,  a  few  spare  moments, 
where  hours  of  undivided  service  and  thought  are  de- 
manded if  we  mean  to  discharge  our  simple  civic  obli- 
gations. Let  us  once  learn  to  discharge  these  obliga- 
tions and  herein  will  lie  the  golden  use  of  arbitration, 
while  its  abuse  will  become  as  rare  as  the  need  of  its 
proper  enforcement.     Let  those  who  have  beard  me 


82  ARBITRATION. 

to-day  remember  that  while  admitting  the  abuses  of  ar- 
bitration, I  have  not  denied  its  proper  use. 

Let  us  arise  to  the  needs  of  our  times  and  remove 
the  dangers  by  which  we  are  threatened.  Let  us  apply 
to  all  public  questions,  but  more  particularly  to  that 
most  vital  question  affecting  the  relations  of  capital  and 
labor,  our  well-earned  national  virtue — common  sense, 
and  the  boasted  quality  of  our  race — the  spirit  of  fair 
play. 

"Let  us  cleanse 
The  hearts  that  beat  within  us;  let  us  now 
Clean  to  the  roots  our  falseness  and  our  pretense, 

Tread  down  our  rank  ambitions,  overthrow 
Our  braggart  moods  of  puffed  self-consequence, 

Plow  up  our  hideous  thistles  which  do  grow 
Faster  than  maize  in  May  time,  and  strike  dead 
The  base  infections  our  low  greeds  have  bred." 


SOME     VIEWS     ON    ARBITRATION. 


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l-RANK    P.    SARGENT,    COMMISSIONER    OF    IMMIGRATION. 


SOME    VIEWS   ON   ARBITRATION. 


BY  FRANK  P.  SARGENT^  COMMISSIONER  OF  IMMIGRATION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


Nations  strive  for  peace  through  the  medium  of  arbi- 
tration when  grave  questions  arise  affecting  the  inter- 
ests of  two  or  more  countries.  The  United  States  ad- 
vocates arbitration  in  national  or  international  disputes. 
Why  not  the  people  urge  arbitration  when  grave  ques- 
tions arise  affecting  commerce,  manufacturing  or  min- 
ing, and  especially  now  when  so  many  millions  of 
people  depend  upon  these  varied  industries  for  a  live- 
lihood ? 

A    FIRM     BELIEVER    IN    ARBITRATION. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  arbitration  as  a  means  of 
preserving  industrial  peace.  In  my  experience  of 
seventeen  years  in  the  labor  movement,  directing  the 
affairs  of  an  organization  of  locomotive  firemen,  we 
were  always  prepared  to  submit  any  question  affecting 
wages,  hours  of  service  and  rules  and  regulations 
governing  discipline  to  a  third  party  when  unable  to 
agree  with  our  employer.  It  is  my  firm  belief  that  the 
success  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  in 

85 


86  SOME    VIEWS    ON     ARBITRATION. 

the  peaceable  solution  of  the  majority  of  the  griev- 
ances of  its  members  has  been  on  account  of  its  will- 
ingness to  stand  before  the  bar  of  public  opinion  as  to 
its  fairness  in  all  things  relating  to  the  employment  of 
its  membership. 

STRIKES   NECESSARY   SOMETIMES. 

Strikes  are  war  measures,  absolutely  necessary  at 
times.  They  have  been  helpful  in  the  past  in  teaching 
lessons  calculated  to  enlighten  and  broaden  the  minds 
of  both  parties  to  the  controversy,  yet  when  it  is  possi- 
ble to  avoid  them,  and  by  peaceable  means  bring  about 
an  understanding  of  mutual  advantage  to  all  con- 
cerned, a  happier  condition  follows  than  when  ex- 
tieme  measures  are  resorted  to. 

ARBITRATION   AS  A  PEACEMAKER. 

From  the  beginning  of  time  men  have  differed  upon 
questions  affecting  the  rights  of  others.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  when  questions  arise  between  men 
wherein  great  financial  interests  are  involved  there  will 
be  times  when  they  will  not  agree.  When  wage-earn- 
ers, in  large  numbers,  band  themselves  together  to 
improve  their  conditions  of  employment,  it  may  be 
understood  that  oftentimes  demands  will  be  made  that 
to  some  may  appear  as  unreasonable,  especially  to  those 
who  are  unacquainted  with  the  condition'^  When  em- 
ployers of  labor  are  confronted  with  these  demands, 
the  interests  involved  require  most  careful  handling, 


SOME    VIEWS    ON    ARBITRATION.  87 

and  very  often  both  the  employer  and  employe  become 
so  far  apart  in  their  views  that  all  conciliatory  means 
fail.  When  this  stage  is  reached  arbitration  should 
begin  its  mission  as  a  peacemaker. 

OPPPOSED  TO  COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION. 

I  am  opposed  to  a  compulsory  arbitration.  Compul- 
sion is  not  attuned  to  arbitration.  Compulsion  means 
force  against  will ;  arbitration,  as  I  view  it,  is  a  peace- 
able means  to  the  settlement  of  the  difficulty  existing 
between  two  or  more  persons  through  the  medium  of 
a  third  person,  who  has  been  mutally  agreed  upon  by 
both  parties  to  the  controversy.  This,  in  my  opinion, 
is  the  only  successful  and  safe  way  toward  industrial 
peace. 

THE   TIME   TO   ARBITRATE. 

We  have  had  an  extended  discussion  on  arbitration. 
The  press  has  given  to  the  people  the  views  of  some 
of  the  foremost  thinkers  of  our  time.  There  is  a 
universal  demand  for  the  peaceable  settlement  of  wage 
disputes,  but,  may  I  ask,  have  we  urged  at  all  times 
arbitration  at  the  right  moment?  I  have  noticed  in 
nearly  all  of  the  disputes  between  labor  and  capital 
that  when  a  strike  has  been  declared  and  all  negotia- 
tions between  employer  and  employe  are  broken  off, 
there  comes  the  cry,  "arbitrate."  It  has  been  my  belief 
that  the  time  to  talk  arbitration  is  when  the  parties  to 
the  controversy  reach  that  point  when  they  cannot 
agree,   when   committees   representing    the    employes 


88  SOME    VIEWS    ON    AKBITRATION. 

have  exhausted  every  possible  argument  in  defense  of 
their  contentions  before  the  officer  representing  the 
employer,  then  is  when  the  proposition  to  arbitrate 
should  be  offered  and  urged  as  the  best  way  to  a  set- 
tlement. At  this  time  I  can  imagine  that  an  employer 
would  be  more  inclined  to  discuss  the  propriety  of 
leaving  the  matter  in  dispute  to  a  third  person  for  a 
decision  than  a  few  days  after,  when  his  employes  have 
quit  his  services  and  he  finds  his  business  at  a  stand- 
still and  he  suffering  great  losses.  When  the  rela- 
tionship of  years  have  not  been  broken  off,  is  it  not 
natural  to  suppose  that  the  employer  would  see  things 
differently  and  be  in  a  better  frame  of  mind  to  listen  to 
the  advice  of  friends  than  when  in  the  midst  of  a  bit- 
ter conflict? 

Al-;];lTIi^\'l  E  FIRST STRIKE  AN  ABSOLUTELY  LAST  RESORT. 

Arbitration  being  a  peaceable  measure,  it  should  be 
proposed  in  times  of  peace  to  be  most  effective.  I  have 
in  mind  instances  where  war  had  been  declared  and 
wage-earners  have  engaged  in  a  strike,  when,  after 
several  days,  a  powerful  influence  has  been  brought 
to  bear  and  a  settlement  effected  by  arbitration.  But 
the  most  effective  settlement,  and  where  the  greatest 
good  has  been  accomplished,  came  when  arbitration 
was  invoked  before  the  strike  had  been  declared.  I  would 
strongly  advise  that  every  member  of  organized  labor 
advocate  arbitration  whenever  the  usual  methods  of 
mutual  conference  fail,  and  not  to  wait  until  after  a 


SOME    VIEWS    ON    ARBITRATION.  89 

Strike  is  on  and  then  give  opportunity  for  criticism,  be- 
cause of  the  prevaiHng  opinion  that  no  arbitration  was 
desired  on  the  part  of  the  employe.  In  my  opinion,  it 
is  a  poor  poHcy  to  strike  a  man  down  and  then  suggest 
peaceable  understandings.  When  ordering  a  strike  let 
it  be  after  all  overtures  for  an  amicable  settlement 
have  failed.  Let  the  press,  the  pulpit,  the  wage-earn- 
ers as  individuals  and  through  organization,  use  their 
influence  for  arbitration  by  mutual  agreement  when 
first  it  is  found  that  the  contending  parties  cannot  come 
together.  At  this  time,  more  than  at  any  other,  each 
is  likely  to  be  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  receive  advice  and 
to  consider  the  value  of  it.  Do  not  wait  until  a  con- 
flict is  waging  and  the  commerce  of  the  country  is 
clogged  and  the  people  made  to  feel  the  terrible  effects 
of  an  industrial  war.  It  is  then  we  hear  the  cry,  "noth- 
ing to  arbitrate;  we  have  no  interest  in  the  men  who 
have  left  our  service ;  they  are  in  no  sense  our  em- 
ployes; they  quit."  This  is  what  is  invariably  said 
when  you  bring  your  influence  for  arbitration  after 
war  has  been  declared. 

TEACH  THE  CHILDREN   AND  THE  PEOPLE  CORRECT  PRIN- 
CIPLES. 

Arbitration  and  its  purposes  should  be  taught  to  our 
children  in  the  schools,  so  that  when  they  grow  to 
manhood  they  will  observe  it  in  their  business.  Arbi- 
tration and  its  value  as  a  peace  measure  to  the  nation 
should  be  the  theme  often  preached  from  the  pulpit, 

6 


go  SOME    VIEWS    ON    ARBITRATION. 

declared  upon  the  rostrum,  and  it  should  always  find  a 
place  in  the  councils  of  labor  and  be  promptly  advo- 
cated when  disagreements  arise.  With  these  powerful 
influences  at  work,  those  who  employ  labor  and  direct 
vast  enterprises  that  affect  the  interest  of  the  people 
will  hesitate  before  allowing  industrial  war  to  be  de- 
clared and  a  large  number  of  toilers  thrown  into  idle- 
ness. Let  us  try  to  arbitrate  first,  then  if  war  must 
come  let  the  responsibility  rest  upon  the  one  who  de- 
fies public  opinion  and  rejects  its  fair  judgment.  The 
more  the  subject  is  discussed  the  more  adherents  there 
will  be  to  the  policy.  Education  on  this  topic  is  neces- 
sary among  the  employers  and  employes,  as  well  as  the 
general  public.  From  the  influence  of  such  meetings 
as  those  held  in  Chicago,  New  York  and  at  this  time, 
when  men  who  represent  labor  and  capital  understand 
the  true  relations  which  should  exist  and  will  be  un- 
derstood by  others,  we  may  hope  for  the  coming  of  an 
industrial  peace  which  will  be  profitable  to  all  alike  and 
abiding  forever. 

PARTIES  TO  A  CONTROVERSY  SHOULD  SELECT  THEIR  OWN 
ARBITRATORS. 

The  public  say  "arbitrate."  Let  those  who  refuse 
this  powerful  medium  be  held  responsible  when  in- 
dustrial war  is  declared,  but  under  all  circumstances 
see  that  arbitration  is  suggested  before  the  blow  is 
struck.  The  most  successful  settlements  made  through 
arbitration  have  been  where  boards  were  selected  for 


SOME    VIEWS    ON    AKIUTUATION.  9I 

the  occasion.  While  national  and  state  boards  might 
at  times  be  of  value,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  safest 
plan  is  through  a  board  that  is  selected  on  account  of 
its  members'  special  fitness  for  the  particular  case  then 
in  hand.  I  am  satisfied  that  better  satisfaction  would 
be  obtamed  if  the  parties  to  the  controversy  selected 
their  own  arbitrators  than  to  depend  upon  a  standing 
or  national  board.  What  is  required  to  make  success- 
ful arbitration  is  to  keep  out  that  which  appears  like 
compulsion  in  any  form.  Where  there  is  a  mutual  de- 
sire on  both  sides  to  arbitrate,  then  there  will  be  no 
difficulty  in  bringing  the  contending  forces  together, 
I  am  convinced  that  the  most  successful  way  to  apply 
arbitration  is  through  boards  created  to  meet  each  in- 
dividual case,  where  the  parties  to  the  question  in  dis- 
pute have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  the  arbitrators. 
While  it  may  be  true  that  national  and  state  boards  may 
be  successful  in  some  instances,  yet  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  the  board  selected  by  both  sides  to  the  particular 
controversy  to  be  decided  will  accomplish  more,  and 
when  a  settlement  is  reached  a  better  feeling  will  result. 


THE     GOVERNMENT     AS     EMPLOYER. 


EDWARD  J.   GAINO'R. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER. 


BY   EDWARD  J.  GAINOR,   MUNCIE,   IND.,   MEMBER   EXECU- 
TIVE   COMMITTEE,    NATIONAL    ASSOCIATION    OF 
LETTER    CARRIERS. 


In  considering  the  question  of  the  government  as 
an  employer,  the  desire  of  the  speaker  is  merely  to 
point  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  character  of  em- 
ployment. There  is  no  intention  on  his  part  to  cry 
out  with  Hamlet.  "The  times  are  out  of  joint !  O 
cursed  spite !  That  I  was  born  to  set  them  right," 
or  to  strike  with  the  Persian  poet  of  centuries  ago 
this  mournful  note — 

"Ah,  love !  could  thou  and  I  with  Him  conspire 
To  grasp  this  sorry  scheme  of  things  entire. 
Would  not  we  shatter  it  to  bits — and  then 
Remold  it  to  our  heart's  desire  ?'' 

SERVICE  IMPROVING. 

This  is  far  removed  from  the  mission  of  this  article. 
Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  present  "scheme  of 
things"  in  government  employment,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  they  are  far  superior   to   any   conditions 

95 


96  THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER 

that  preceded  them.  The  standard  of  efficiency  and 
morahty  of  employes  is  higher,  the  service  is  more 
efficient  and  less  expensive,  and  the  relations  between 
chiefs  and  subordinates  more  intimate  and  pleasant 
than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  our  government's 
service.  Desirable  as  this  condition  is,  much  needed 
progress  remains  to  be  made.  Nevertheless,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  whatever  criticism  of  the  present 
system  is  offered  is  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out 
the  line  that  progress  should  follow  rather  than  to 
suggest  drastic  reforms  to  be  followed  with  feverish 
impetuosity. 

TENDENCY  TO  ENLARGE   FUNCTIO'NS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 

One  of  the  most  unmistakable  tendencies  of  the 
times  is  the  growing  desire  of  the  people  to  enlarge 
the  functions  of  the  government  by  entering  fields  of 
activity   formerly   left  to  purely  private  enterprise. 

In  nearly  all  countries  there  is  an  earnest  and  con- 
tinued agitation  seeking  to  accomplish  this  end,  and 
throughout  the  entire  length  and  breadth  of  the 
United  States  no  section  of  the  republic  is  free  from 
this  phenomenon. 

In  our  municipalities  we  note  a  universal  demand 
for  the  city  ownership  of  public  utilities,  and  where- 
ever  the  question  of  city  ownership  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  for  decision,  in  the  great  majority 
of  instances  it  has  resulted  in  favor  of  municipal  own- 
ership of  the  utilities  in  question.  The  same  condi- 
tion confronts  our  national  government. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER,  97 

Agitation  for  government  cables,  for  postal  savings 
banks,  and  for  a  government  telegraph  system  con- 
tinues unabated. 

The  expediency  of  the  government  manufacturing 
her  own  battleships  and  armorplate,  and  the  advisa- 
bility of  adding  a  parcel  post  system  to  the  Postoffice 
Department,  have  been  seriously  discussed  by  Con- 
gress. Even  the  national  ownership  of  the  means  of 
transportation  has  its  defenders,  and  this  doctrine 
formed  a  part  of  the  declaration  of  principles  of  a  party 
that  cast  over  a  million  votes  at  one  election. 

Whether  this  prevalent  clamor  for  government 
ownership  is  for  good  or  ill  is  not  the  question.  Yet 
the  student  and  investigator  must  recognize  that  it  is 
here,  and  if  the  doctrine  thrives  when  the  country  is 
unusually  prosperous,  what  may  we  expect  when  the 
nation  is  afflicted  with  a  temporary  business  depres- 
sion? 

If  present  signs  portend  anything,  then  it  may  be 
stated  as  reasonably  certain  that  an  irresistible  de- 
mand from  the  people  will  compel  the  government  to 
broaden  the  sphere  of  her  activity  and  year  by  year 
become  a  greater  employer  of  labor.  Many  causes 
are  working  to  this  end. 

It  is  effectively  argued  that  nationally  managed 
utilities  give  more  efficient,  impartial  and  reliable  serv- 
ice, and  as  competition  is  destroyed  and  the  operation 
systematized,  the  cost  of  use  is  much  cheapened. 

Connected  with  this  is  the  knowledge  that  no  divi- 


98  THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER 

dends  will  be  declared  as  profits  of  this  department's 
operation,  and  the  satisfaction  of  realizing  that  should 
this  branch  of  the  government's  work  prove  profita- 
ble, the  surplus  will  be  either  turned  back  into  the 
people's  treasury  or  the  cost  of  service  cheapened. 

UNSOUND    RE.'\SO'N     FOR     POPULARITY     OF     GOVERNMENT 
OWNERSHIP. 

But  the  greatest  reason  for  the  popularity  of  gov- 
ernment ownership  among  the  masses  is  found  in 
the  common  belief  that  the  government  is  an  ideal  em- 
ployer of  labor.  Deeply  rooted  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  is  this  conviction,  and  so  attractive  and  desira- 
ble is  a  position  with  Uncle  Sam  as  an  employer  con- 
sidered that  but  few  of  our  young  men  have  failed 
to  feel  the  effects  of  its  fascination.  No  matter  how 
difficult  may  be  entrance  into  the  government  service, 
or  how  rigid  may  be  the  test  an  applicant  must  under- 
go before  he  is  eligible  for  appointment,  there  is  an 
ever-waiting  army  of  highly  capable  and  moral  young 
men  willing  and  able  to  qualify  for  a  position  with  the 
government  as  an  employer.  This  desirability  of 
government  employment  would  readily  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  contrast  with  employment  in  civil 
life  the  government  is  a  much  fairer  employer.  But, 
is  this  true?  In  spite  of  the  active  competition  for 
government  positions,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
this  previous  conclusion  is  correct  or  will  bear  the  test 
of  a  careful  inquiry.     The  peculiarity  of  the  govern- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER.  99 

nicnt  service  which  is  so  misleading  lies  in  the  fact 
that  its  advantages  stand  out  boldly  and  prominently. 
More  hidden,  yet  none  the  less  baneful,  are  its  disad- 
vantages. 

WHAT    IS    MEANT    BY    DESIRABLE    EMPLOYMENT. 

In  discussing  the  question  of  employment,  it  is  well 
at  the  outset  to  i!{nderstand  what  is  meant  by  desirable 
employment.  This  term  should  not  only  contemplate 
short  hours  of  labor,  reasonable  conditions  of  employ- 
ment, with  fair  pay,  but  also  that  character  of  labor 
that  will  tend  to  develop  the  employe  to  his  highest 
mental  and  physical  capacity.  Taking  this  standard 
of  desirability  as  a  guide,  and  comparing  government 
employment  with  occupations  in  civil  life,  it  will  be 
readily  noted  that  in  various  ways  the  government 
employe  is  especially  favored. 

employes'  BENEFITS  UNDER  CIVIL  SERVICE   LAW. 

The  civil  service  law  has  now  become  a  fixed  insti- 
tution, backed  up  by  public  sentiment.  The  employ- 
es who  come  under  its  beneficent  provisions  can  rest 
secure  in  the  permanency  of  their  positions  as  long 
as  their  efficiency  and  conduct  meets  the  standard 
set  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  Separation 
from  the  service,  based  upon  nothing  but  the  dislike 
of  a  chief  of  a  department  for  his  subordinate,  is  be- 
coming practically  unknown.  A  uniform  law  of  eight 
hours  for  a  day's  work  prevails  in  all  branches  of  the 


lOO  THE  G0VEI5NMENT  AS  EMPLOYER. 

government  employment.  Here  strikes  and  labor 
disturbances  are  avoided  and  employment  is  regular 
and  salary  certain.  An  average  leave  of  fifteen  days 
a  year,  with  pay,  is  granted,  and  work  is  done  under 
thf:  best  sanitary  conditions.  The  rate  of  wages  of 
the  government  employe,  as  a  rule,  will  compare 
favorably  with  wages  paid  in  similar  occupations  in 
civil  life.  It  is  even  probable  that-  were  a  private 
corporation  in  charge  of  government  work,  by  lov^^'er- 
ing  the  present  standard  of  ability,  cheaper  service 
could  be  secured. 

DISADVANTAGES    OF    GOVERNMENT    EMPLOYMENT. 

The  foregomg  resume  shows  some  of  the  benelits 
the  government  employe  derives  from  his  position 
with  the  governn:cnt  as  an  employer.  In  this  respect 
it  is  undeniable  that  the  conditions  under  which  he 
labors  are  much  superior  to  the  ordinary  conditions 
that  obtain  in  employment  in  civil  life.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  another  side  to  his  employment  which  is  not 
so  attractive,  and  whose  existence  makes  the  wisdom 
of  further  extending  government  ownership  question- 
able. In  all  lines  of  human  endeavor  in  civil  life  ob- 
servation will  confirm  the  conclusion  that  the  men  who 
occupy  the  responsible  and  exalted  positions  sprung 
from  most  humble  beginnings.  Early  in  life  they  en- 
tered the  particular  business  with  which  they  are  now 
connected,  and  by  industry  and  application  they  nat- 
urally and   regularly  advanced  to  their  present  high 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS   EMPLOYER.  lOI 

station.  There  is  nothing  surprising  about  the  up- 
ward progress  of  these  men.  By  displaying  an  in- 
terest and  a  capacity  to  readily  accomplish  the  tasks 
assigned  them  the  welfare  of  the  business  that  gave 
them  employment  was  conserved  by  their 
promotion.  Examples  of  this  character  are  met  with 
on  every  hand,  and  are  of  the  highest  moral  worth  to 
the  young  man  just  taking  up  a  vocation.  By  noting 
what  industry,  application  and  a  determination  to  suc- 
ceed have  done  for  other  men,  his  ambition  is  stimu- 
lated to  emulate  their  example,  and  carve  out  a  career 
for  himself.  As  a  result,  his  business  has  a  more 
earnest  devotee  and  the  community  a  better  citizen. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Our  republic  has  grown  great  on  the 
theory  that  humble  birth  should  not  militate  against  a 
citizen's  success  in  life,  nor  statute  operate  against 
his  honorable  advancement.  To  make  the  greatest 
possible  opportunities  for  unencumbered  individual 
effort  has  been  the  aim  of  our  most  eminent  states- 
men, and  whatever  operated  against  this  end  was  con- 
sidered as  inimical  to  the  growth  of  the  country. 
This  cardinal  principle  of  the  republic's  faith  is  still 
as  strong  with  its  citizens  as  ever,  yet,  in  spite  of  this 
fact,  our  own  government  is  to-day  conducting  a  sys- 
tem of  employment  that  is  in  direct  opposition  to  these 
accepted  beliefs.  When  a  citizen  desires  to  enter  the 
employ  of  the  government — we  will  take  the  letter 
carrier  occupation  as  a  case  in  point — he  must  under- 
go a  rigid  examination  and  distance  a  large  field  of 


I02  THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER. 

competitors  before  securing-  an  appointment.  After 
passing  through  an  irksome  period  of  apprenticeship 
the  maximum  salary  is  reached.  Here  his  progress 
stops.  For  further  advancement  there  is  httle  hope. 
So  rare  have  been  the  cases  of  promotion  among  let- 
ter carriers  that  the  most  recent  report  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  makes  no  mention  of  it.  No 
matter  how  efficient  the  letter  carrier  may  become  or 
how  generally  recognized  may  be  his  aptitude  for  the 
work  assigned  him,  it  does  not  make  his  promotion  a 
whit  more  probable.  On  the  contrary,  unusual  abil- 
ity often  has  the  tendency  to  increase  his  burdens. 
When  we  pause  to  study  the  system  on  which  the  pres- 
ent method  of  government  employment  is  based,  the 
cause  of  this  state  of  affairs  is  easily  discovered.  With 
exceedingly  few  exceptions,  almost  all  appointive 
offices,  such  as  heads  of  the  different  departments, 
postmasters,  assistant  postmasters  and  other  super- 
visory and  responsible  positions  are  selected  from  the 
citizens  in  private  life.  This  shuts  out  the  less  fa- 
vored subordinate  in  the  government  employ,  and  for 
this  reason  prevents  his  advancement.  But  there  is 
still  another  reason  why  the  subordinate  does  not  se- 
cure the  coveted  vacancy.  In  private  business  enter- 
prises, competition  in  similar  lines  of  trade  makes  it 
necessary  that  the  best  equipped  man  for  the  position 
be  secured.  Dividends  must  be  declared.  In  gov- 
ernment work  this  necessity  does  not  exist,  so,  natur- 
ally,  personal    friendship   outweighs    manifest   ability. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER.  IO3 

SOCIALISTIC  THEORY  VS.  EXPERIENCE. 

The  existence  of  these  discouraging  features  of  his 
employment  forces  upon  the  letter  carrier  the  alarm- 
ing yet  truthful  conclusion  that  would  he  rise  in  his 
chosen  profession  he  must  abandon  it.  This  absence 
of  promotion  in  the  letter  carrier's  employment  not 
only  acts  as  a  bar  to  his  professional  advancement,  but 
is  a  positive  injury  to  the  proper  development  of  his 
character.  After  the  first  blush  of  novelty  wears  off 
his  position,  the  government  employe  soon  learns 
that  unusual  effort  or  extraordinary  ability  meets 
with  no  material  reward.  He  also  learns  that  would 
he  retain  his  position  a  certain  standard  of  efficiency 
must  be  maintained.  Consequently,  his  ,::fforts  are  di- 
rected to  keeping  close  to  the  limits  of  this  standard, 
and  no  matter  what  his  ability  may  be,  to  not  sur- 
pass it.  A  pleasing  socialistic  theory,  which  the 
writer  has  tried  hard  to  religiously  believe  is  to  the 
effect  that  the  applause  of  friends  and  the  desire  to  do 
a  task  well  is  as  great  an  incentive  to  unusual  exer- 
tion as  the  prospects  of  a  more  tangible  reward,  but 
personal  observation  has  failed  to  confirm  this  theory. 

GOVERNMENT    EMPLOYES    ALLOWED    LITTLE    FREEDOM. 

If  the  government  employe  has  little  hope  of  pro- 
motion in  his  own  particular  business,  there  is  less  in 
other  professions.  Public  opinion  and  government 
regulations  frown  on  his  active  participation  in  other 


I04  THE   GOVERNMENT  AS   EMPLOYER. 

callings  or  business  enterprises  without  first  relin- 
quishing his  position  in  the  government  employ.  In 
this  respect  employes  in  civil  life  are  much  more 
happily  situated.  Private  employers  concern  them- 
selves but  little  about  their  employes'  habits  when 
not  on  duty.  The  government  does,  and  upon  the 
ground  that  the  purity  and  dignity  of  the  public  serv- 
ice should  be  maintained,  reserves  the  right  to,  in  a 
large  measure,  direct  the  conduct  of  her  employes 
when  not  directly  employed.  Numerous  departmental 
regulations,  such  as  those  referring  to  the  payment  of 
debts  contracted,  the  frequenting  of  saloons,  and  the 
management  of  entertainments  for  a  profit,  are  the 
subject  of  especial  rules.  Offenses  of  employes  while 
off  duty  that  on  the  part  of  private  employes  would 
cause  no  comment,  would  be  a  subject  for  instant  in- 
vestigation were  the  government  employes  con- 
cerned. While  all  these  various  regulations  are  mor- 
ally elevating  through  their  observance,  the  question 
arises,  is  it  well  to  guide  men's  conduct  completely 
by  regulation?  If  the  progress  of  the  world  has  been 
continually  towards  a  larger  measure  of  freedom  for 
the  individual,  is  not  any  unnecessary  law  that  limits 
this  freedom,  dangerous  even  though  the  law  itself 
is  calculated  to  make  men  better  citizens  ?  Every  his- 
torical instance  of  governmental  tyranny  is  based  up- 
on the  intent  to  do  good. 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER.  I05 

DISQUALIFIED    FOR    TOLITICAL    PREFERMENT. 

There  is  one  other  avenue  of  human  endeavor  that 
offers  great  attractions  for  all  ambitious  Americans. 
Here  are  unusual  opportunities  for  the  young  man  to 
distinguish  himself,  and  in  no  place  does  ability  and 
talent  lend  itself  so  readily  to  the  shaping  of  a  notable 
career.  It  is  the  field  of  politics.  Yet,  here,  too,  is 
the  government  employe  by  departmental  regulations 
disqualified.  In  this  fascinating  line  of  human  ac- 
tivity he  must  not  become  aggressive,  nor  can  he  ac- 
cept any  oflSce  within  the  gift  of  the  people.  To  be 
nominated  for  a  public  office  would,  to  the  employe 
in  civil  life,  be  a  great  honor,  but  to  the  government 
employe  such  a  nomination  would  mean  his  instant 
dismissal  from  the  service. 

GOVERNMENT    EMPLOYMENT    AN    EFFECTIVE    BLACKLIST. 

Another  feature  of  government  employment,  which, 
by  comparison  with  occupations  in  civil  life,  shows 
that  employe  to  be  more  advantageously  situated. 
After  the  government  employee  has  attained  his  maxi- 
mum salary,  should  he  then  or  afterwards  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  service,  the  highly  technical  knowledge 
of  his  business  that  has  taken  him  years  to  acquire, 
is  in  its  bread-winning  utility  practically  valueless. 
If  a  letter  carrier,  no  other  postoffice  seeks  his  service 
nor  can  he  sell  his  extensive  knowledge  of  the  postal 
business  to  a  private  employer. 


Io6  THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER. 

Eight  years  ago,  after  the  strike  of  the  American 
Railway  Union,  a  system  of  blackhsting  the  em- 
ployes who  struck  was  inaugurated  by  the  railroad 
managers.  The  press  of  the  country  were  a  unit  in 
denouncing  this  action  as  inhuman  and  unjust.  Yet, 
without  malicious  intent,  the  government  conducts  a 
system  of  employment  that  much  more  effectually  dis- 
bars its  former  employes  from  again  securing  work 
at  their  previous  occupation,  and  unconsciously 
reaches  the  same  end  that  the  railroad  managers 
sought.  To  all  these  disadvantages  in  government 
employment  can  be  added  another  feature  that  tends 
to  retain  an  employe  in  the  government  service  after 
he  has  once  accepted  a  position  and  remained  long 
enough  to  have  reached  the  maximum  salary.  Should 
he  then  become  dissatisfied  with  his  situation  in  the 
government's  employ  he  realizes  that  were  he  to  ac- 
cept a  situation  in  civil  life  he  must  again  begin  at 
the  bottom  and  try  to  work  his  way  up,  with  the  con- 
tinual risk  of  an  unsuccessful  issue  of  his  efforts.  Is 
it  then  surprising  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  the 
government  employe  realizes  that  he  would  "rather 
bear  the  ills  he  has  than  fly  to  those  he  knows  not  of?" 

A   LIFE   OF   PERPETUAL   HOPELESS    MEDIOCRITY. 

In  summing  up  the  detrimental  phases  of  govern- 
mental employment,  the  worst  feature  of  all  its  short- 
comings lies  in  its  tendency  to  bring  to  a  dead  level 
the  ability  and  qualifications  of  its  servants.     It  seeks 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER.  ID/ 

by  a  fair  salary  and  a  most  scrutinizing  test  to  secure 
the  best  youthful  talent  the  country  can  produce,  and 
then,  by  a  system  almost  satanic  in  its  ingenuity,  con- 
demn them  to  a  life  of  perpetual  hopeless  mediocrity. 
In  this  article  the  writer  has  aimed  to  honestly  and 
impartially  treat  in  its  various  phases  the  present  status 
of  government  employment.  With  the  facts  here  sub- 
mitted before  us,  we  are  irresistibly  forced  to  the 
truthful  if  paradoxical  conclusion  that  as  an  employer 
the  government  is  the  very  best  employer  and  the  very 
worst.  It  is  best  because  in  its  character  it  rarely 
overworks  its  servants  and  surrounds  them  with  the 
most  modern  conveniences  to  make  their  labor  pleas- 
ant. Neither  does  it  subject  its  employes  to  the  vi- 
cissitudes or  uncertainties  of  work  that  are  a  part  of 
employment  in  civil  life.  It  is  worst  because  the  high- 
est reward  it  offers  for  unusual  ability,  perseverance 
and  industry  is  a  mere  livelihood  and  the  assurances 
of  employment  only  as  long  as  its  servant  is  able  to 
complete  the  tasks  assigned  him.  Surely  here  is 
need  for  some  reformation.  Here  is  a  fruitful  field 
for  the  research  of  the  statesman  and  philosopher. 

A    MORE   DEADLY    DISEASE    THAN    THE    EVILS    FOUND    IN 
PRIVATE   C0RP0R.\TI0NS. 

This  resume  of  the  peculiarities  of  government  em- 
ployment is  not  the  passing  complaint  of  a  few  active 
men  within  the  ranks  who  feel  that  they  are  discrim- 
inated  against   by   its    provisions.     The    question     is 


I08  THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER. 

much  broader  and  far  more  momentous  than  this. 
No  question  more  vitally  affects  the  future  of  our 
country  than  this  self-same  question  of  government 
employment.  Dislike  it  or  favor  it  as  we  may,  noth- 
ing is  more  certain  than  that  the  pendulum  of  public 
opinion  is  swinging  towards  a  greater  government 
ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion with  daily  increasing  force.  To  escape  the  evils 
that  large  combinations  of  capital  are  supposed  to 
contain,  the  people  are  looking  with  approving  eye  on 
this  new  means  of  escape.  To  the  great  majority, 
taking  our  present  scheme  of  governmental  ownership 
as  a  criterion,  the  system  is  perfectly  flawless.  How 
pitiful  will  it  be  for  them,  after  being  delivered  from 
all  the  ills  that  competitive  industry  is  heir  to,  to  find 
that  they  have  adopted  a  system  which  has  within  it 
a  far  more  deadly  disease  than  all  the  evils  that  pri- 
vate corporations  contain.  And  this  disease  must 
eventually  mean  the  decay  and  degeneration  of  the 
entire  system.  It  is  well  for  us  to  then  pause  while 
this  impetuous  movement  to  increase  the  functions  of 
our  government  is  in  progress,  and  ask  ourselves,  is 
it  wise?  The  best  friend  of  government  ownership 
and  of  government  employment  is  he  who  points  out 
its  dangers  and  its  defects.  Is  the  tendency  of  gov- 
ernment employment  to  protect  incompetency  and 
leave  ability  unrewarded  an  inseparable  and  natural 
part  of  the  system? 

Is  it  possible  for  the  injurious  features  of  govern- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  AS  EMPLOYER.  ICQ 

ment  employment  herein  cited  to  be  remedied  and  the 
same  incentive  for  men  to  surpass  each  other  offered 
as  now  exists  in  civil  life?  If  this  change  cannot  be 
effected,  or  if  the  American  people  have  not  the  in- 
tention of  making  this  change,  then  it  were  far  bettei 
for  our  country  and  its  citizens  that  our  public  utilities 
continue  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  private  corpora- 
tions. 


SOME    ADVANCE    WORK. 


JULIAN    V.    WRIGHT. 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 


BY  JULIAN  V.   WRIGHT. 


On  the  wall  of  No.  2  building  of  the  N.  C.  R.  fac- 
tory plant  there  appears  a  motto :  "We  are  part  of 
all  we  have  met,"  and  this  motto  may  in  its  broad 
meaning  be  said  to  express  the  theory  governing  Pres- 
ident Patterson  in  the  business  practice  which  has  re- 
suited  in  the  N.  C.  R.  method.  Among  the  corollaries 
of  this  idea  the  necessity  of  ceaseless  education  is  the 
most  important,  whether  that  education  be  active  or 
merely  passive,  caused  in  a  greater  part  by  the  influ- 
ence of  pleasant  surroundings. 

SURROUNDINGS  AFFECT  ACTION. 

The  execution  of  any  such  idea  in  a  manufacturing 
business  requires,  if  it  is  to  be  logical,  that  the  same 
effort,  consideration  and  surroundings,  in  so  far  as  this 
last  is  possible,  must  be  accorded  the  factory  employe 
as  is  shown  to  the  office  brain  worker.  In  other  words 
that  the  same  care  should  be  used  in  an  endeavor  to 
make  the  working  places  well  lighted,  well  ventilated, 
attractive  and  comfortable  as  is  expended  commonly — 

113 


114  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

one  might  say  almost  universally — in  the  design,  equip- 
ment and  care  of  the  offices.  Certainly,  a  well  fitted 
office  and  reception  room  is  considered  a  requisite  by 
the  modern  man  of  business  who  thus  recognizes,  al- 
beit perhaps  unconsciously,  the  fact  that  surroundings 
affect  action.  Of  mental  action  this  is  more  or  less 
generally  acknowledged  and  that  it  is  true  of  physical 
action  as  well  is  one  of  the  cardinal  propositions  upon 
which  has  been  based  the  whole  practice  of  the  N.  C.  R. 
Company  by  its  founder  and  president,  Mr.  John  H. 
Patterson. 

AN    EXAMPLE  CANNOT  BE  LOCALIZED. 

Nor  has  there  been  any  disposition  to  restrict  the 
operation  of  this  theory  to  the  space  inside  the  boun- 
dary of  the  factory  plant.  One  cannot  localize  the 
effect  of  an  example,  and  the  only  logical  way  in  which 
a  plan  may  be  permitted  to  demonstrate  its 
value  is  to  open  its  workings  beyond  those 
immediately  affected  so  that  it  may  be  left 
to  work  out  its  own  development.  It  was 
in  this  broad  and  far  seeing  way  that  what  is  called 
the  advance  work  at  the  N.  C.  R.  factory  was  first 
planned  and  begun.  It  was  a  practical  movement  look- 
ing to  the  betterment  of  the  working  conditions  often 
prevalent  in  manufacturing  plants  and  justified  with 
the  belief  that  the  time,  thought  and  money  expended 
would  be  proven  repaid  by  the  improvement  in  the 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  II5 

general  morale  of  the  working  force  and  ultimately 
by  the  better  quality  of  the  work  produced. 

UNFAVORABLE   SURROUNDINGS. 

It  is  probably  not  generally  known  that  originally 
that  part  of  Dayton  in  which  the  plant  of  the  N.  C.  R. 
now  stands  was  preeminently  the  one  section  of  the 
city  in  which  that  development  of  city  life  known  as 
"Hoodlum  gangs"  was  most  apparent.  It  was,  in 
fact,  the  halting  place  of  the  local  ne'er-do-wells  who 
were  being  driven  before  the  advancing  town  growth 
in  its  gradual  absorption  of  the  near  lying  farm  lands. 
It  lay  some  distance  from  the  center  of  the  city,  was 
illy  provided  with  any  means  of  transportation  and 
bore  the  expressive  name  of  Slidertown.  Passage 
through  its  badly  lighted  streets  after  nightfall  was 
considered  unsafe  and  was  often  proven  so  by  the  ex- 
perience of  those  who  had  the  temerity  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. When  the  factory  was  first  moved  from  cramped 
quarters  in  the  heart  of  the  city  to  the  new  building 
which  had  been  erected  for  it,  great  difficulty  was  ex- 
perienced in  obtaining  competent  workmen  on  account 
of  their  unwillingness  to  enter  this  section  of  the  town. 
Windows  in  the  building  were  nightly  broken  by  stones 
thrown  in  pure  wantoness,  and  the  hope  entertained 
that  employes  attracted  by  low  rents  and  cheap  build- 
ing; lots  might  come  to  live  near  the  factory  seemed 
almost  impossible  of  realization.  It  was  a  standard 
comment  among  the  men  that  they  should  like  to  come 


Il6  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

to  the  neighborhood,  but  that  they  were  unwilhng  to 
expose  their  own  children  to  the  constant  association 
with  such  companions  as  were  to  be  found  in  that 
locality. 

INTERESTING   THE   BOYS — BOYS'    GARDENS. 

Thus  was  raised  the  question  as  to  what  could 
possibly  be  devised  which  would  interest  the  boys 
of  the  neighborhood  and  occupy  their  out  of  school 
time,  particularly  during  the  long  summer  days.  The 
known  tendency  of  bo3'S  to  aggregate  themselves  into 
"crowds"  led  to  the  thought  of  gardens  where  they 
could  find  their  friends  and  spend  some  part  at  least  of 
each  day  in  useful  work,  during  the  duration  of  which 
some  beneficial  and  restraining  influence  could  be  ex- 
erted over  them.  In  this  way  first  came  to  be  insti- 
tuted the  N.  C.  R.  boys'  gardens.  They  consist  of  about 
6  acres  of  land,  laid  off  into  plats  each  lo  feet  wide 
and  172  feet  long,  separated  from  each  other  by 
paths.  Originally  there  were  only  40  in  number,  but 
the  demand  for  the  gardens  increased  so  rapidly  that 
the  original  allocation  of  land  was  enlarged  until  space 
was  obtained  for  74  gardens.  Plots  are  allotted  to 
the  boys  of  the  neighborhood  between  ages  of  8  and 
15  who  apply  therefor  in  the  spring,  no  discrimination 
being  made  in  favor  of  boys  having  relations  employed 
by  the  N.  C.  R.  Company.  Ordinarily,  there  are  more 
applications  than  plots,  and  a  rule  has  therefore  been 
made  that  the  applications  of  boys  having  had  a  garden 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  II7 

for  two  years  will  only  be  considered  after  all  other 
applications  have  been  filled.  The  gardens  are  pro- 
vided with  water  piping,  and  a  head  gardener  is  em- 
ployed by  the  company  who  oversees  the  boys  and 
gives  them  such  help  and  instructions  as  may  be  neces- 
sary. Forfeiture  of  gardens  is  only  imposed  in  the 
case  of  continued  failure  and  neglect  to  attend  properly 
to  them.  The  same  selection  of  seeds  is  furnished  to 
all,  this  being  arranged  for  progressive  crops  on  some 
of  the  subdivisions  of  the  individual  plots.  It  should 
of  course  be  understood  that  there  is  no  charge  what- 
ever made  against  the  boys ;  that  everything,  even  tools, 
are  supplied  free.  Each  boy  is  entitled  to  whatever 
grows  on  his  plot  to  dispose  of  in  any  manner  he  sees 
fit.  At  the  end  of  the  year  six  prizes  are  given  at  a 
dinner  which  is  extended  to  all  the  boys  by  the  Offi- 
cers' Club  of  the  N.  C.  R.  The  effect  of  the  establish- 
ment of  these  gardens  was  almost  immediate,  the  ten- 
dency being  evinced  in  many  cases  by  inquiries  from 
the  heads  of  families  of  which  the  boys  were  members 
as  to  whether  or  not  plants  and  seeds  could  not  be  ob- 
tained for  planting  in  the  home  lots. 

This  tendency  was  at  once  encouraged  not  only  by  a 
free  distribution  of  the  garden  supplies  asked  for,  but 
by  the  establishment  of  a  series  of  prizes  for  the  best 
kept  and  most  attractively  cared  for  house  yards,  etc. 
The  strength  of  this  movement  is  made  apparent  by  the 
case  of  a  conspicuous  sloven  who  was  seen  cleaning 
up  and  seeding  his  back  yard  one  day,  and  who  in  an- 


Il8  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

swer  to  the  inquiry  as  to  whether  or  not  he  was  going 
in  for  the  prize  repHed:  "Not  much  I  ain't,  but  I 
don't  propose  to  have  John  Patterson  take  a  picture  of 
my  house  and  go  round  showing  it  to  people  as  the 
dirtiest  place  in  South  Park." 

OTHER  IMPROVEMENTS  INDUCED. 

A  more  encouraging  and  noteworthy  example  of  the 
effect  set  by  this  general  movement  is  afforded  by  the 
action  of  the  Montgomery  County  Fair  Association  in 
ordering  the  destruction  of  the  old  board  fence  sur- 
rounding the  fair  grounds  and  forming  part  of  the 
wagon  sheds  which  bordered  direcljy  upon  the  street, 
the  ordinary  decoration  of  which  when  it  had  any  was 
an  ancient  coat  of  whitewash  ornamented  by  torn  and 
fluttering  advertising  bills.  This  fence  bordered  on 
the  grounds  of  the  factory  and  has  been  now  long  since 
replaced  by  one  of  woven  iron  covered  with  flowering 
vines,  thus  creating  a  most  enjoyable  color  scheme  in 
the  place  of  the  old  and  time-honored  eyesore. 

TAXABLE  VALUE  OF  ATTRACTIVE  SURROUNDINGS. 

While  this  development  has  been  going  on  around 
the  factory  grounds,  the  same  general  plan  was  adopted 
for  the  outside  of  the  factory  buildings.  Around  these 
was  established  a  bed  of  bushes  and  flowering  plants, 
while  the  vacant  open  spaces  were  carefully  sodded  and 
converted  into  a  series  of  open  green  lawns ;  surely  a 
more  agreeable  outlook  during  a  day's  work  than  is  a 
view  disclosing  piles  of  empty  tin  cans  and  dumps  of 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  II9 

unassorted  refuse.  As  evidencing  the  beneficial  effect 
ot  this  broad  plan  of  neighborhood  improvement,  it 
may  be  stated  that  the  tax  books  of  the  city  of  Dayton 
show  an  average  increase  in  the  value  of  real  estate 
of  400  per  cent  in  this  section  during  the  last  eight 
years  which  have  elapsed  since  the  work  was  begun. 

GOOD  LIGHT  AND  GOOD  AIR. 

The  plan  which  has  been  carried  out  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  factory  buildings  is  that  of  a  pure  steel 
frame  with  brick  walls ;  this  necessitates  the  minimum 
quantity  of  blank  wall  space  and  affords  the  maximum 
of  open  window  space.  The  window  frames  are  car- 
ried down  to  the  floors,  leaving  no  dark  corners  for  the 
collection  of  dirt  and  refuse  in  unlighted  out  of  the 
way  places.  Paint  covered  windows  are  absolutely 
barred  and  iron  screens  are  only  adopted  in  places 
where  the  location  exposes  basement  lights  to  acciden- 
tal breakage.  Naturally  this  construction  conduces 
to  great  coolness  and  comfort  during  the  summer,  as 
one-third  of  its  total  window  space  can  be  thrown  open 
by  raising  the  sash.  There  are  no  rules  enforcing  closed 
windows,  etc.  Ventilating  systems  are  installed 
throughout  the  factory  for  use  during  weather  neces- 
sitating the  closing  of  the  window  sashes,  the  systems 
being  proportioned  to  insure  the  complete  change  of 
the  air  in  every  room  each  ten  minutes.  In  addition  to 
this  wherever  the  work  carried  on  is  such  as  to  pro- 
duce dust,  suction  draft  is  employed  to  insure  the  clean- 


I20  SOME  ADVANCE   WORK. 

liness  of  the  atmosphere,  the  collectors  bemg  located 
in  such  a  way  with  respect  to  the  machines  producing 
dust  that  it  is  collected  immediately  upon  its  produc- 
tior.  and  deposited  in  the  dust  house.  In  the  polishing- 
room,  for  example,  the  polishing  wheels  are  enclosed 
so  far  as  possible  in  draft  boxes  attached  to  the  suction 
system. 

LAVATORY  ACCOMMODATIONS. 

Lavatory  accommodations  connecting  with  the  work 
rooms  are  provided  for  in  two  independent  wings  ex- 
tending from  the  side  of  each  building  and  of  the  same 
height.  In  this  way  two  separate  large  lavatories  open 
ofif  from  each  floor.  The  ample  space  afforded  pre- 
vents crovv^ding  and  loss  of  employes'  time  after  quit- 
ting work.  These  lavatories  are  independent  from  the 
bath  rooms  provided,  and  for  the  use  of  which  there 
is  a  weekly  allowance  of  twenty  minutes  in  winter  and 
forty  minutes  in  summer  of  company  time  to  each 
employe.  For  women  this  bathing  time  is  independent 
of  the  other  allowances  made  to  them  exclusively  and 
which  will  be  taken  up  later. 

WORKING  TIME  AND  BASIS   OF  TAY. 

For  the  men  hours  of  work  are  from  7  a.  m.  to  12  m. 
and  from  i  to  5:30  p.  m.,  the  afternoon  period  ending 
Saturday  at  4:30  p.  m. — a  total  of  56  hours  per  week. 
In  the  case  of  the  women  a  gradual  reduction  of  the 
workincf  time  has  been  made  until  the  week's  work 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  121 

now  consists  of  about  44  hours  actual,  their  time  be- 
ginning an  hour  later  in  the  morning  than  the  balance 
of  the  factory  and  closing  ten  minutes  sooner.  This 
arrangement  is  made  that  there  be  no  lack  of  seat  ac- 
commodation in  the  extra  street  cars,  which  under 
an  agreement  with  the  railroad  company  are  provided 
for  them.  In  addition  to  the  allowances  mentioned 
there  are  two  daily  rest  periods  of  ten  minutes  each, 
at  10  and  at  3  o'clock,  and  a  Saturday  half  holiday. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  the  daily  pay  for  both 
men  and  women  has  not  been  reduced  from  the  basis  of 
60  hours  per  week. 

PHYSICAL  AND   MORAL   HEALTH   SAFEGUARDED. 

All  persons  who  apply  for  employment  and  appear 
competent  are  accepted  only  after  a  rigid  investigation 
of  references  showing  them  to  be  of  a  desirable  charac- 
ter, and  their  physical  good  health  has  been  certified  to 
by  a  physician  after  examination.  The  last  is  held  as 
necessary  to  safeguard  the  general  health  of  the  factory, 
as  is  the  rigid  rule  excluding  any  immoral  person  from 
employment  deemed  imperative  in  order  that  a  high 
standard  of  moral  tone  may  be  insured.  This  condi- 
tion has  never  been  in  doubt,  and  aided  by  the  qualifi- 
cation insisted  on  since  1895  that  all  women  employes 
must  be  high  school  graduates,  has  resulted  in  a  great 
raising  of  the  mental  standard  as  well  as  obtaining  for 
the  company  a  much  higher  class  of  women  employes 
than  it  is  believed  will  be  found  in  almost  any  other 
m.anufacturing  plant  in  the  country. 


122  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

PHYSICAL  EXERCISE — WARM  LUNCHEONS — DECREASE  IN 
LOSS  OF  TIME. 

Calisthenic  exercises — which  are  optional  during  the 
rest  periods — are  very  generally  engaged  in  after 
methods  imparted  by  well-knovv^n  instructors,  whose 
charges  for  the  instruction  have  been  defrayed  in 
greater  part  by  the  company.  These  and  the 
stress  laid  upon  the  following  of  the  simpler 
rules  of  hygiene,  such  as  pinning  up  the 
skirts  from  contact  with  the  floor  to  avoid  the  pro- 
duction of  dust,  has  resulted  in  a  great  decrease  in  time 
lost  by  illness.  This  reduction  was  also  undoubtedly 
increased  by  the  establishment  in  1895  of  the  Women's 
Dining  Room  where  a  warm  lunch  is  served  daily,  the 
charge  being  five  cents.  Also  during  this  year  was  be- 
gun the  furnishing  to  each  woman  of  two  clean  aprons 
and  oversleeves  each  week,  while  instead  of  stools, 
chairs  with  backs  and  foot  rests  were  provided.  Prior 
to  the  establishment  of  these  conditions  the  records  for 
the  year  1895  show  the  loss  of  time  to  women  em- 
ployes through  illness  to  have  been  18  per  cent,  while 
the  1901  records  show  this  loss  to  have  been  less  than 
2  per  cent.  Near  the  Women's  Dining  Room  is  situ- 
ated the  Women's  Rest  Room,  to  which  they  are  privi- 
leged to  go  at  any  time  in  case  of  sickness  or  weari- 
ness, and  where  a  matron  is  constantly  in  attendance 
to  render  any  desired  assistance  or  care. 


some  advance  work.  i23 

officers'  club. 

For  the  officers  and  heads  of  departments  there  has 
been  established  the  Officers^  Club  to  which  are  eligi- 
ble for  membership,  on  approval  by  the  Board  of  D'irec- 
tors,  ail  heads  of  departments  and  their  assistants. 
Lunch  is  served  daily  at  noon  time  and  there  are  thus 
brought  together  the  chiefs  of  the  different  departments 
whose  duties  do  not  ordinarily  bring  them  in  contact 
with  one  another  and  who  would  come  to  lack  the  finer 
feelings  of  common  interest  and  mutual  helpfulness 
which  is  so  unquestionably  fostered  by  the  daily  meet- 
ings at  the  club. 

MEANS  FOR  MENTAL  IMPROVEMENT — A  SOUND  BUSINESS 
INVESTMENT. 

It  has  not  been  believed,  however,  that  the  physical 
necessities  and  needs  are  the  only  thing  to  be  consid- 
ered. It  is  even  more  vital  that  the  fullest  opportunity 
and  incentive  be  given  to  all  employes  for  their  mental 
improvement.  And  as  has  been  said  before,  it  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  N.  C.  R.  belief  that  such  an  effort 
is  more  than  repaid,  apart  even  from  any  philanthropic 
or  benevolent  motives,  by  the  added  intelligence  with 
which  the  problems  of  the  work  are  considered  and  the 
completion  of  the  finished  product  facilitated. 

As  tending  to  this  end  a  library  was  early  estab- 
lished. It  is  open  daily  from  12  m.  to  i  :30  p.  m.  as  a 
reading  room,   and   from   it  books   may   be  borrowed 


124  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

and  taken  home  for  a  careful  perusal.  The  regular 
publication  twice  a  month  of  the  N.  C.  R.  magazine, 
as  well  as  the  issuance  of  special  bulletins,  etc.,  from 
time  to  time,  are  among  the  other  means  adopted. 

There  has  also  been  tried  a  School  of  Mechanics,  a 
Debating  Club,  etc.  After  all  of  which  the  most  satis- 
factory plan  has  been  found  to  be  that  of  the  stereopti- 
con  lecture  method.  It  produces  the  greatest  results  by 
apparently  creating  more  interest  and  attracting  larger 
numbers.  Recently  a  Letter  Writing  School  has  been 
opened  for  all  employes  who  have  in  any  way  to  do 
with  correspondence  and  is  proving  to  be  very  highly 
appreciated. 

OFl-ICERS'    SCHOOL^ — STUDYING    SUGGESTIONS    AND    BUSI- 
NESS   METHODS. 

The  Officers'  School  meets  once  a  week  for  an  hour's 
session.  It  consists  of  the  factory  foremen  and  as- 
sistants, who  are  thus  enabled  to  discuss  factory 
methods  and  later  on  through  personal  contact  to  give 
to  the  employes  much  valuable  information  and  aid  in 
their  work,  the  result  of  the  combined  opinion  of  all. 
Every  possible  opening  is  extended  to  all  to  get  an  ex- 
pression of  their  thoughts  and  suggestions  on  work 
Of  business  methods,  not  only  in  their  own  particular 
line,  but  also  in  such  matters  as  may  come  under  their 
notice  in  any  way.  This  plan  was  begun  after  a 
chance  conversation  had  by  Mr.  Patterson  with  a  new 
employe  of  the  company  who  had  formerly  worked  for 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  1 25 

him  in  another  business,  and  who  in  reply  to  a  remark 
that  he  would  be  promoted  if  he  made  suggestions  said : 
"You  would  never  hear  of  it,  it  would  be  smothered 
long  before  it  reached  you,  or  some  one  else  would 
get  the  credit." 

PRIZES  FOR  BEST   SUGGESTIONS. 

As  the  development  of  Mr.  Patterson's  original  plan 
is  now  carried  out,  there  are  placed  in  each  department 
as  well  as  in  various  parts  of  the  building,  autographic 
registers  upon  which  suggestions  are  to  be  written. 
The  registers  manifold  by  means  of  carbon  paper ;  one 
copy  remaining  in  the  register  while  two  are  torn  off, 
one  for  the  transmission  to  the  Factory  Committee, 
who  awards  the  prizes,  and  one  for  retention  by  the  au- 
thor. The  copy  remaining  in  the  machine  is  used  for 
check  identification  purposes.  Fifty  prizes  are  given 
each  half  year  for  the  best  suggestions,  these  covering 
the  factory  and  as  well  the  conduct  of  the  business. 
Of  the  number  of  suggestions  received  ordinarily  about 
20  per  cent  are  such  as  can  be  adopted  or  utilized  in 
some  way  or  another.  The  suggestions  reached  a 
maximum  of  about  4,000  in  1897,  since  which  time  they 
have  been  decreasing  in  number.  This  is  considered 
to  be  in  the  main  due  to  the  past  watchfulness  shown 
for  improved  points  and  the  correspondingly  increas- 
ing difficulty  to  find  points  permitting  improvement. 
Certainly  the  suggestions  lately  gone  over  in  August 
show  a  considerably  greater  evidence  of  close  thought 


126  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

than  those  of  preceding  periods.  The  two  principles 
of  suggestions  and  consultation  are  also  carried 
through  in  every  department  of  the  business. 

EXECUTIVE  ORGANIZATION. 

The  resulting-  organization  is  believed  to  be  unique 
in  its  general  plan ;  briefly  stated,  its  structure  is  best 
graphically  represented  by  a  pyramid  resting  on  nu- 
merous supporting  sub-pyramids. 

The  capstone  of  the  organization  pyramid  is  formed 
by  the  president  and  the  first  and  second  vice-presi- 
dents, all  of  whom  are  a  part  of  and  form  with  the 
Board  of  Directors  the  active  executive  power  of  the 
organization.  The  board  has  regular  meetings  each 
week  and  others  are  subject  to  call  at  any  time.  As  of 
auxiliary  assistance,  there  is  a  second  board  known  as 
the  Advisory  Board  whose  functions  will  be  taken  up 
later.  Subordinate  to  and  supporting  this  head  pyra- 
mid the  whole  forces  of  the  business  are  divided  into 
three  distinct  sub-pyramids,  the  head  of  each  of  which 
is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and  is  assisted 
in  his  work  by  a  number  of  committees.  This  commit- 
tee plan  was  adopted  as  offering  a  distinct  educational 
value  and  being  at  the  same  time  the  most  practical 
way  of  obtaining  a  full  and  free  discussion  of  business 
problems,  in  which  those  who  arc  to  carry  out  the  poli- 
cies are  aided  to  decisions  by  the  co-operation  of  those 
indirectly  concerned. 


SOME  ADVANCE   WORK.  12/ 

FACTORY  COMMITTEE. 

The  management  of  the  making  pyramid  is  entrusted 
to  what  is  called  the  Factory  Committee.  This  con- 
sists of  seven  members,  the  chairman,  who  has  the  gen- 
eral supervision  of  the  whole  factory  and  is  the  mana- 
ger of  the  making  division,  the  secretary  who  is  the 
assistant  to  the  chairman  and  five  factory  supervisors 
under  whom  are  all  the  factory  departments  and  over 
a  number  of  which  each  has  personal  control.  This 
committee  meets  three  times  each  week  and  owing  to 
the  duties  of  its  members  is  able  to  come  into  direct 
personal  touch  with  the  foremen,  any  one  of  whom  is 
always  called  in  for  consultation  on  matters  connected 
with  his  department. 

Supplementing  and  subsidiary  to  the  Factory  Com- 
mittee are  five  other  committees  each  in  charge  of  some 
special  details  of  the  factory  work,  the  results  of  whose 
deliberations  are  sent  up  for  final  decision  to  the  Fac- 
tory Committee  whose  members  are  ex-officio  members 
of  the  other  committees.  This  same  committee  system 
is  carried  through  in  the  other  two  divisions  of  the 
whole  business  organization.  Over  all  is  as  stated  the 
Board  of  Directors ;  for  it  is  reserved  the  necessarily 
private  matters  of  salaries,  promotions,  etc. 

ADVISORY  BOARD. 

In  the  general  matter  of  policy  and  management  the 
board  is  supplemented  by  the  Advisory  Board  referred 
to,  consisting  of  eighteen  heads  and  assistant  heads  of 


128  SOME  ADVANCE  WORK. 

the  more  important  departments,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
advise,  as  is  indicated  by  the  name  of  the  board,  and  to 
aid  by  their  more  intimate  knowledge  of  department 
details  the  Board  of  Directors  in  its  decisions.  An  ad- 
ditional advantage  of  this  board  it  is  believed  is  that 
those  serving  as  members  are  rapidly  trained  to  take 
a  much  broader  view  of  the  business  than  when  they 
are  confined  strictly  to  the  particular  work  in  which 
they  are  engaged.  Matters  which  in  the  great  majority 
of  organizations  of  the  same  size  would  be  reserved  for 
the  most  private  and  confidential  consideration  are 
freely  discussed  before  the  Advisory  Board,  and  the  re- 
sult must  be  conceded  to  be  a  vindication  of  the  policy 
if  business  growth  is  any  criterion  of  business  methods. 
Apart  from  this,  however,  there  is  created  a  number  of 
men  v»^ho  are  in  case  of  need  competent  and  perfectly 
tramed  for  the  work  of  undertaking  the  duties  of  any 
position  in  the  organization.  In  fact  there  is  always 
a  maintained  effort  to  insure  that  for  every  position 
of  importance  some  one  is  at  hand  ready  to  take  over 
the  whole  responsibility  at  a  moment's  notice. 

TO  OVERCOME   NARROWING   INFLUENCES  OF  SPECIALIZA- 
TION— EDUCATION   THE  WATCHWORD. 

And  there  exists  still  a  final  and  greater  reason  for 
the  educational  work  which  is  going  on  throughout  the 
whole  organization.  This  is  that  the  present  age  is 
one  of  specialization  carried  to  its  uttermost  limits,  a 
movement  brought  about  by  the  commercial  develop- 


SOME  ADVANCE  WORK.  I29 

ment.  This  specialization  has  the  effect  of  narrowing 
and  unfitting  men  for  the  more  important  executive 
positions  so  that  the  necessary  broadness  of  informa- 
tion can  only  be  insured  by  the  most  liberal  training 
proceeding  concurrently  with  regularly  appointed 
work. 

These  few  details  will  make  it  clear  that  education 
is  the  watchword  of  the  whole  system  and  the  aim  of 
every  movement;  that  it  is  in  a  word  the  lever  upon 
which  the  company  depends  for  success  and  the  individ- 
ual employe  for  promotion.  Towards  the  constant  ac- 
quirement of  information  and  its  application  to  the 
individual's  work,  there  is  no  other  influence  so  con- 
stantly exerted  as  is  that  of  the  company. 

TOTAL   COST   OF   UNUSUAL   THINGS — TEACHINGS   OF    EX- 
PERIENCE. 

The  cost  to  the  company  of  the  ''unusual  things," 
from  the  average  business  standpoint,  which  it  does 
average  about  25^  per  cent  of  the  total  payroll.  This 
amount  the  company  continues  to  expend  on  the  work 
because  it  believes  it  not  only  to  be  right,  but  also  be- 
cause it  is  believed  that  it  pays  and  that  benefits  will 
continue  to  accrue  in  the  future.  Some  of  the  exper- 
iments which  have  been  started  by  the  company  have 
demonstrated  themselves  to  be  incapable  of  perma- 
nent good  or  even  of  interest  to  those  to  whose  benefit 
it  was  hoped  they  would  inure,  therefore  they  have 
been     abandoned ;     on    the     other    hand     many    are 


130  SOME  ADVANCE   WORK. 

established  institutions  whose  presence  is  hardly 
a  fact  worthy  of  comment,  so  familiar  have 
they  become.  Nor  must  it  be  assumed  that 
this  work  is  not  greatly  appreciated  and 
eagerly  accepted  by  the  vast  majority  of  those 
to  whom  it  is  open.  It  has  been  proven  moreover  to 
Mr.  Patterson  and  to  those  who  have  been  privileged 
to  observe  with  him  the  progress  of  events,  that  it  re- 
turns its  own  reward  constantly  in  the  current  opera- 
tion of  the  factory  and  its  allied  departments. 

BUSINESS,    NOT   BENEVOLENCE. 

It  is  regrettably  true  that  any  such  movement  as  has 
been  briefly  put  before  you  is  regarded  with  mixed 
feelings  or  even  suspicion  by  some  of  those  whom  it 
was  hoped  to  aid.  A  vital  point  in  the  successful  con- 
duct of  such  a  plan  is  that  it  must  be  conducted  on  a 
self-help  basis  and  not  as  a  benevolent  or  philan- 
thropic measure. 

It  must  stand  on  its  own  feet,  on  the  basis  of  a  quid 
pro  quo.  If  a  meal  is  provided  it  should  be,  not  at  a 
ridiculously  low,  but  at  an  equitable  price,  or  else  in 
recognition  of  special  conditions  such  as  overtime  or 
night  work.  Any  other  basis  detracts  from  the  effect- 
iveness in  that  it  docs  not  allow  for  the  perfectly  justifi- 
able pride  taken  in  the  rendering  of  an  equivalent,  and 
offends  the  self-respect  of  many.  It  has  been  in  many 
ways  unfortunate  that  the  N.  C.  R.  method  has  be- 
came known  as  a  benevolent  movement.     This  concep- 


SOME  ADV'ANCE  WORK.  I3I 

tion  has  always  been  earnestly  combated  by  President 
Patterson. 

BASIS    FOR    INDUSTRIAL    PEACE MUTUAL    RESPECT    AND 

CONFIDENCE. 

It  is  not  claimed  or  expected  that  such  efforts  as 
these  are  alone  to  finally  solve  the  vexed  question  of  in- 
dustrial relations.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  this 
solution  will  approach  the  nearer  to  accomplishment 
with  the  mutual  realization  of  the  essential  dependence 
existing  between  the  two  factors  of  the  problem. 
Farther  it  is  hoped  that  the  friendly  relations  un- 
doubtedly fostered  by  the  N.  C.  R.  method  will  create 
and  maintain  a  feeling  of  confidence  between  the  two 
mutual  workers,  the  employe  and  the  employer,  since 
on  a  belief  in  the  integrity  of  each  other's  purposes 
depends  the  industrial  peace  and  therefore  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  nation. 


RELATION  OF  THE  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL 
AND  LABOR. 


CHARLES    ZUEBLIN,    UNIVERSITY    OF    CHICAGO. 


RELATION    OF   THE    PUBLIC   TO    CAPITAL 
AND    LABOR. 


BY  CHARLES  ZUEBLIN,  ASSISTANT  PROFESSOR  OF  SOCIOL- 
OGY, UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO,  CHICAGO. 


The  public  is  concerned  in  the  welfare  of  both  capital 
and  labor.  It  is  to  the  general  advantage  that  both  the 
capitalist  and  laborer  should  receive  such  rewards  as 
would  lead  to  industrial  efficiency.  The  public  cannot 
concern  itself  with  the  individual  capitalist,  nor  with 
the  individual  laborer.  The  financial  failure  of  the 
former,  or  the  industrial  failure  of  the  latter  may  be 
burdensome  to  society,  but  it  cannot  risk  the  protection 
of  either  lest  it  thereby  promote  industrial  inefficiency. 
Thus,  it  is  to  the  interest  of  society  to  eliminate  specu- 
lative positions  and  sinecures.  While  it  must  give 
such  encouragement  to  capital  as  to  lead  to  experimen- 
tation in  new  industrial  methods  and  in  the  seeking  of 
new  markets,  and  while  it  must  protect  the  worker 
from  excessive  labor  or  anxiety,  it  must  also  protect 
itself  and  them  by  limiting  rewards  to  legitimate  service 
and  insisting  upon  the  fulfilment  of  industrial  obliga- 
tions.    The  public  is  interested  in  industry  because, 

135 


136      RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR. 

(i)      Consumption  is  the  root  of  all  production; 

(2)  The  captain  of  industry  is  indirectly  the  agent 
of  society; 

(3)  The  vvorkingman's  standard  of  living  deter- 
mines the  character  of  our  civilization ; 

(4)  The  public  may  be  compelled  to  assume  cer- 
tain industries  for  the  proper  satisfaction  of  human 
wants. 

CONSUMERS    KEEP    WHEELS    OF    INDUSTRY    MOVING. 

I.  Consumption  is  the  root  of  all  production.  All 
industry  exists  for  the  satisfaction  of  human  wants. 
Consumption  is  unquestionably  fostered  by  successful 
methods  of  advertising,  as  well  as  by  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  service  or  the  successful  production  of 
commodities ;  but  the  wheels  of  industry  would  be 
silenced  were  it  not  for  the  consumer.  The  thrift  of 
the  shrewd  and  conservative  business  man  would  have 
no  investing  value  were  it  not  for  the  expenditures  of 
others.  The  welfare  of  society  demands  that  the  ma- 
jority should  spend  the  bulk  of  their  incomes,  in  spite 
of  the  precarious  situation  in  which  such  expenditures 
places  most  of  them.  The  contrast  between  the  part 
played  by  consumption  in  the  speculative  industry  of 
to-day  and  in  such  well  regulated  organizations  as  the 
co-operative  societies  of  Great  Britain,  only  confirms 
the  significance  of  consumption.  The  amount  of  con- 
sumption is  speculative  in  the  one  case,  and  scientific- 
ally ascertained  in  the  other ;  but  none  the  less  it  is  the 


RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR.       1 3/ 

secret  of  production.  As  capital  and  labor  are  depend- 
ent upon  the  public  for  their  rewards,  the  public  has 
ultimately  the  right  to  control  the  conditions  under 
which  these  rewards  may  be  sought.  No  private 
franchise  is  so  binding  that  society  cannot  revoke  it  in 
order  to  have  its  needs  satisfied ;  no  trade  is  vested  in 
the  hands  of  a  group  of  workers  with  such  security  that 
society  cannot  demand  a  change  of  conditions  or  a  new 
set  of  workers.  The  special  privileges  enjoyed  by 
capital  and  labor  to-day  are  acquiesced  in  by  society  be- 
cause, in  the  long  run,  they  do  not  violate  its  standards 
of  consumption. 

INDUSTRIAL    CONDITIONS    MUST    SERVE    THE    GENERAL 
WELFARE. 

2.  The  captain  of  industry  is  indirectly  the  agent  of 
society.  Special  privileges,  vested  interests,  divine 
rights,  are  the  result  of  arrogant  assumption  on  the  part 
of  those  in  power,  in  the  face  of  the  ignorant  and  inef- 
fectual protests  of  the  majority.  The  right  of  private 
property,  the  privileges  enjoyed  by  corporations,  the 
protection  offered  to  business  interests,  are  all  the  prod- 
uct of  society's  endeavoring  to  concede  to  individuals 
such  industrial  methods  as  will  conduce  to  the  general 
good.  The  abuses  connected  with  private  property  and 
land  are  the  result  of  centuries  of  tradition,  in  which  it 
has  been  believed  that  this  time-honored  method  pro- 
moted individual  character  and  industrial  efficiency. 
There  is  nothing  sacred  in  the  person  of  a  landed  pro- 


138      RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR. 

prietor,  except  as  a  steward  of  society.     The  boatmen 
of  the  Thames  made  unavaihng  protests  against  the 
introduction  of  coaches  in  the  streets  of  London ;  their 
vested  interest  was  superseded  by  the  interests  of  the 
people.     The  workers  in  the  textile  industries  in  Great 
Britain  protested  violently  against  the  introduction  of 
machinery.     In  the  same  way  the  little  shop-keeper  has 
tried  to  have  legislation  passed  against  the  department 
stores.     The  believer  in  the  divine  functions  of  compe- 
tition has  secured  legislation  against  the  trusts.     Rail- 
way magnates  block  the  way  of  water  transportation. 
The  leader  of  the  anthracite  operators  proclaims  him- 
self the  chosen  of  God.     These  are  the  King  Canutes 
or  Dr.  Dowies  of  their  times.     The  sea  does  not  stand 
still ;  the  law  courts  lay  a  heavy  hand  upon  the  self-ap- 
pointed representative  of  the  Deity.     The  privileges 
enjoyed  by  the  captain  of  industry  or  the  capitalist  are 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  organized  representatives 
of  society,  in  the  belief  that  the  industrial  traditions  of 
the  past  still  warrant  the  service  of  society  by  private 
industry;  but  the  individual  capitalist  or  employer  has 
no  claim  upon  society  beyond  the  rights  granted  to  him 
by  the  state.     Lord  Penrhyn  asserted  for  two  years  his 
right  to  prevent  the  operation  of  his  privately  owned 
quarries,    until  the   public   opinion   of   Great   Britain 
triumphed  over  the  opinion  that  a  man  can  do  what  he 
will  with  his  own.     The  impudence  of  the  blasphemous 
and  inefficient  representative  of  the  anthracite  coal  in- 
terests would  receive  equally  effective  rebuke  were  it 


RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LAEOR.       1 39 

not  that  the  great  natural  resources  of  America  and  the 
tradition  that  there  is  always  enough  and  a  super- 
abundance for  all  prevented  a  proper  appreciation  of 
the  effect  of  the  attitude  of  the  anarchists  who  have 
been  granted  by  society  the  privilege  of  owning  the 
anthracite  coal  beds.  The  right  of  eminent  domain, 
the  necessities  or  convenience  of  the  public  will  ulti- 
mately confirm  what  is  already  embodied  in  the  Consti- 
tution and  the  Statute  book, — that  the  captain  of  in- 
dustry is  indirectly  the  agent  of  society. 

STANDARD    OF    LIVING    SET    BY    CONCERTED    ACTION. 

3.  The  li'orkinguian's  standard  of  living  deter- 
mines the  character  of  our  civilicatioi.  In  addition  to 
the  instinctive  standard  there  is,  as  has  been  said,  the 
standard  set  by  concerted  action.  The  engineers 
throughout  Great  Britain  would  without  hesitation  de- 
cline to  accept  fifteen  shillings  a  week,  but  there  might 
be  much  doubt  in  different  sections  and  at  different 
times  as  to  twenty-seven  or  twenty-nine  shillings  repre- 
senting a  just  demand.  The  instinctive  standard  is  in- 
adequate, because  without  combined  action  workmen 
may  be  compelled  to  accept  the  standard  set  by  the 
least  exacting  individual  among  them.  The  gradual 
advance  enjoyed  by  most  members  of  society  as  prog- 
ress is  made  is  quite  unhke  the  advantage  gained  by 
individuals  in  the  case  of  sudden  prosperity,  an  advance 
which  will  be  shared  by  the  majority  only  when  they 
are  strong  enough  to  insist  on  it.     In  spite  of  prosper- 


140      RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR. 

ity  the  instinctive  standard  will  guide  the  employes 
unless  organized  labor  exacts  better  terms.  Yet  it 
will  be  impossible  to  get  far  beyond  the  instinctive 
standard  if  the  majority  of  workers  are  unorganized, 
unless  an  appeal  is  made  to  the  state  to  establish  a 
national  minimum.  Here  we  find  industrial  democ- 
rac}^  guided  by  the  experience  of  some  organized 
workers  and  following  the  analogy  of  legislation  in  re- 
straint of  trade  in  other  directions  (notably  the  Fac- 
tory Acts),  suggesting  that  the  general  experience  of 
the  efficient  workers  demands  that  a  standard  be  set 
for  the  inefficient  or  ineffectively  organized,  as  a  means 
of  national  defense.  In  the  words  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Webb : 

THE  STATE  IS  PARTNER  IN   EVERY  ENTERPRISE. 

"When  any  group  of  consumers  desire  something 
which  is  regarded  as  inimical  to  the  public  well-being 
— for  instance,  poisons,  explosives,  indecent  literature, 
or  facilities  for  sexual  immorality  or  gambling — the 
community  prohibits  or  regulates  the  satisfaction  of 
these  desires.  When  the  directors  of  industry  attempt 
lo  use  a  material  or  a  process  which  is  regarded  as  in- 
jurious— for  instance  food  product  so  adulterated  as  to 
be  detrimental  to  health,  ingredients  poisonous  to  the 
users,  or  processes  polluting  the  rivers  or  the  atmos- 
[)here — their  action  is  restrained  by  public  health  acts. 
y\nd  when  the  workers  concerned,  whether  through  ig- 
n(jrance,  indifference  or  strategic  weakness,  consent  to 


RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR.       I4I 

work  under  conditions  which  impair  their  physique, 
injure  their  intellect  or  degrade  their  character,  the 
community  has,  for  its  own  sake,  to  enforce  a  national 
minimum  of  education,  sanitation,  leisure  and  wages. 
We  see,  therefore,  that  industrial  administration  is,  in 
the  democratic  state,  a  more  complicated  matter  than 
is  naively  imagined  by  the  old-fashioned  capitalist, 
demanding  the  "right  to  manage  his  own  business  in 
his  own  way."  ...  In  each  of  its  three  divisions,  the 
interests  and  will  of  one  or  other  section  is  the  domi- 
nant factor  But  no  section  wields  uncontrolled  sway, 
even  in  its  own  sphere.  The  state  is  a  partner  in  every 
enterprise.  In  the  interests  of  the  com.munity  as  a 
whole,  no  one  of  the  interminable  series  of  decisions 
can  be  allowed  to  run  counter  to  the  consensus  of  ex- 
pert opinion  representing  the  consumers  on  one  hand, 
the  producers  on  the  other,  and  the  nation  that  is  para- 
mount over  both." 

THE    WELFARE   OF   THE   STATE   RESTS   ON    GOOD    CITIZEN- 
SHIP. 

The  interest  of  the  public  in  the  workingman  is  not 
confined  to  his  economic  condition.  The  welfare  of  the 
state  rests  upon  good  citizenship.  If  the  industrial 
conditions  do  not  seem  to  warrant  adequate  leisure, 
recreation,  good  homes,  education, — society  in  self-de- 
fense must  provide  these  higher  conditions. 

"It  is  right  and  necessary  that  all  men  should  have 
work  to  do ;  work  worth  doing,  work  of  itself  pleasant 


142      RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR. 

to  do,  work  done  under  such  conditions  that  it  is  neither 
overwearisome  nor  overanxious.  In  a  well  ordered 
state  of  society  every  man  willing  to  work  would  be 
irsured  an  honorable  and  fitting  occupation,  healthy 
and  beautiful  house,  full  leisure  for  rest  of  mind  and 
body."     (William  Morris,  Art  and  Socialism.) 

THE  COMMUNITT's  LAW  OF  LIFE. 

4.  TJie  public  may  be  compelled  to  assume  certain 
industries  for  the  proper  satisfaction  of  human  zuants. 
Public  control  provides  for  the  coming  generation  and 
thus  fulfills  the  community's  law  of  life.  The  superior 
experience  and  more  immediate  interests  of  private 
capital  make  for  energy  and  sometimes  for  efficiency, 
but  there  is  no  permanence.  One  of themostseriousdif- 
ficulties  involved  in  the  private  performance  of  services 
which  are  essential  to  public  welfare  is  the  fact  that 
the  individuals  in  control,  however  honest  they  may  be, 
have  no  inducement  to  make  preparation  for  the  needs 
of  the  coming  generation.  Thus  the  community  is  fre- 
quently saddled  with  burdens  which  remain  a  tax  upon 
the  resources  of  a  generation  in  no  way  responsible  for 
these  actions.  Franchises  which  extend  beyond  one 
generation  are  utterly  indefensible.  There  is  an 
abundant  experience  to  prove  that  the  life  of  one  gener- 
ation is  long  enough  to  provide  adequate  remuneration 
for  such  investments,  and  the  numerous  injustices 
worked  by  any  greater  extension  of  such  franchises 
furnish  sufficient  evidence  in  favor  of  short  franchises 


RELATION  OF  PLTLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR.       I43 

and  subsequent  public  ownership.  The  municipality 
possesses  immortality  as  no  individuals  or  corporations 
can,  and  its  interests,  even  more  than  those  of  a  family, 
must  be  anticipated,  so  that  the  coming  generation  may 
not  be  sacrificed  for  the  present. 

MAKING    THE    WORLD    A    COMFORTABLE    PLACE    OF    RESI- 
DENCE. 

Public  ownership  sustains  and  raises  the  standard  of 
living  of  the  workers.  Where  the  municipality  con- 
trols an  enterprise  there  is  a  maintenance  of  trade 
union  standards  of  wages  and  hours,  and  sometimes 
even  an  improvement  on  these.  The  public  is  more  so- 
licitious  with  regard  to  its  employes  than  many  priv- 
ate emplo}ers,  and  at  the  same  time  has  the  power  of 
establishing  standards  which  excessive  competition 
denies  to  private  employers. 

More  important  possibly  than  the  standard  of  living 
of  the  employes  of  the  city  is  the  continual  provision 
for  the  higher  life  of  the  citizen,  made  possible  by  the 
extension  of  public  functions.  As  there  is  a  multipli- 
cation of  public  schools,  libraries,  museums,  parks, 
playgrounds,  public  baths,  improved  supplies  of  water 
and  light,  better  transportation  and  other  public  facili- 
ties, the  life  of  the  community  is  enriched.  Permanent 
public  improvements  are  effected,  and  each  succeeding 
generation  must  profit  by  the  heritage  which  it  thus  re- 
ceives.    Professor  Smart  has  said : 

"The  progress  of  human  society  chiefly  takes  the 


144      RELATION  OF  PUBLIC  TO  CAPITAL  AND  LABOR. 

form  of  making  the  world  a  more  comfortable  place  for 
man  to  live  in,  and  such  improvements  pass  away  out  of 
the  range  of  valuation.  They  become  brighter, 
healthier  conditions  of  our  life.  In  other  words  much 
of  our  parent  wealth  exists  in  the  form  of  a  background 
of  the  community's  life.  The  true  line  of  progress  is 
that  this  background  should  be  common  property ;  that 
the  community  should  continually  be  adding,  as  it  were, 
to  the  free  gifts  of  nature,  changes  of  physical  environ- 
ment that  make  the  house  of  life  into  the  home  of  man." 


GROWTH     OF     ORGANIZED     INDUSTRY. 


']•.    V.    POWDKKLY,   FORMER    MASTER    WORKMAN,   KNIGHTS 
OF   LABOR. 


GROWTH  OF  ORGANIZED  INDUSTRY. 


BY    T.    V.    POWDERLY,    FORMER    MASTER    WORKMAN, 
KNIGHTS  OF  LABOR,,   WASHINGTON,  D.    C. 


The  promoters  of  the  movement  toward  bringing 
employer  and  employed  within  speaking  distance  of 
each  other,  for  the  purpose  of  scanning  the  various 
branches  of  their  family  trees,  to  ascertain  how  closely 
they  are  related  by  blood  or  marriage  very  prudently 
say  that  they  "have  no  cure-all  to  advocate,  no  prop- 
aganda to  spread."  In  this  they  show  wisdom,  for 
it  has  not  yet  been  written  that  men  whose  interests 
conflict  shall  at  all  times  act  in  harmony  in  deciding 
who  shall  have  the  right  of  way.  Hundreds  of  vol- 
umes, devoted  to  a  settlement  of  the  differences  exist- 
ing between  capital  and  labor,  have  been  issued  within 
the  last  few  years.  The  subject-matter  of  each  volume 
differed  from  that  of  its  neighbor,  but  the  titles  were 
more  in  harmony.  They  suggested :  "A  Solution  of 
the  Labor  Question,"  "The  Labor  Question  Solved," 
"The   Irrepressible   Conflict    Decided,"    etc.      Under 

147 


148       GROWTH  OF  ORGANIZED  INDUSTRY. 

these  and  similar  titles  the  authors  presented  what  they 
believed  to  be  panaceas  for  every  ill  and  ache  that  gave 
pain  to  that  great  industrial  body  made  up  of  em- 
ployers and  employed.  Notwithstanding  the  frequency 
with  which  the  labor  question — so-called — has  been 
solved,  it  appears  to  be  still  unsettled.  Strikes,  lock- 
outs, boycotts,  blacklists  and  contentions  of  varied 
shades  and  degrees  of  difference  and  bitterness  appear 
on  the  surface  as  of  old.  That  period  when  the  "lion 
and  lamb  shall  lie  down  together"  is  not,  from  present 
indications,  close  at  hand,  and  it  is  just  as  well  not 
to  close  our  eyes  to  that  fact. 

THE   WORLD   OF    PRODUCTION    REVOLUTIONIZED. 

It  is  not  the  aim  of  this  paper  to  point  the  way  to  a 
settlement  of  the  differences  which  exist  between  the 
employer  and  the  employed ;  it  is  doubtful  if  any  man 
can  do  so.  I  will  go  further  and  say  that  though  one 
be  endowed  with  God-like  attributes,  though  he  be 
aided  by  divine  inspiration  in  evolving  and  presenting 
a  plan,  for  the  settlement  of  industrial  controversies, 
so  perfect  as  to  commend  it  to  the  judgment  of  every 
reasoning  being,  it  would  fail  to  receive  the  approval 
of  a  majority  of  mankind  owing  to  its  jealousies, 
prejudices  and  interests.  I  can  only  present  a  few 
thoughts  on  the  relations  existing  between  those  who 
provide  the  means  .-ind  effort  employed  in  production, 
realizing  that  the  limitations  which  surround  me  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  a  full  or  exhaustive  discussion, 


GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY.  I49 

even  though  my  abilities  were  equal  to  the  task.  The 
agitation  in  the  field  of  industry  which  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  thoughtful  and  studious  is  due,  prin- 
cipally, to  the  revolution  which  wrested  the  tool  from 
the  hands  of  the  workman  and  set  it  in  motion  to  the 
music  of  whirring  belts  and  revolving  pulleys,  pro- 
pelled by  steam  or  an  electric  power,  the  ways  of  which 
are  as  yet  past  finding  out.  The  substitution  of  wealth 
and  labor-saving  machinery  for  hand  labor  has  com- 
pletely revolutionized  the  whole  world  of  production, 
and  he  who,  in  discussing  the  industrial  problem,  fails 
to  take  note  of  that  fact  had  better  remain  silent.  Im- 
proved methods  create  wealth  more  rapidly  and  in 
greater  abundance  than  ever  before.  It  is  not  only 
possible  to  make  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  one 
grew  before,  but  machinery  capable  of  cutting,  gath- 
ering and  transporting  fifty  blades  of  grass  where  but 
one  was  heretofore  attended  to  is  already  here  await- 
ing the  ripening  of  the  grain  and  we  have  ceased  to 
wonder  at  its  coming.  Indeed,  it  is  because  we  have 
grown  so  accustomed  to  its  presence  that  we  often  fail 
to  attribute  disturbance  in  the  field  of  industry  to  its 
proper  cause.  Not  only  does  machinery  take  care  of 
the  grain  at  seed  time  and  harvest,  but  it  makes  a 
hundred  articles  of  use  and  value  where  one  was  made 
before.  It  turns  out  all  articles  used  by  mankind  so 
fast  and  in  such  quantities  that  one  wonders  where 
the  consumers  are  to  come  from.  In  the  olden  time, 
when  one  blade  of  grass  grew  where  two  or  more 


150  GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY. 

grow  without  crowding  now,  when  the  isolated  shoe- 
maker turned  out  his  solitary  pair  of  shoes,  when  the 
blacksmith  worked  independent  of  a  boss,  every  work- 
man, certainly  every  mechanic,  hoped  sooner  or  later 
to  own  a  workshop  of  his  own.  The  wealth  employed 
then,  as  working  capital,  was  largely  the  property  of 
the  workers  of  different  callings  who  conducted  busi- 
ness on  their  own  account,  in  their  own  workshops, 
and,  with  their  own  tools  they  fashioned  materials, 
also  their  own,  into  finished  product.  They  did  not  hesi- 
tate then  to  invest  the  profit  of  their  labor  in  shops, 
tools,  materials  and  agencies  for  the  transportation  of 
the  finished  article  to  market.  They  were  the  owners, 
in  whole  or  part,  of  all  of  these  and  exercised  care, 
caution  and  vigilance  in  pursuing  their  separate  voca- 
tions. They  worked  with  greater  energy,  they  put 
more  heart  and  soul  into  their  work  than  they  do  to- 
day, for  they  were  creating  wealth  to  which  they  could 
lay  claim ;  they  worked  hard,  but  had  a  substantial 
interest  in  what  they  fashioned.  Corporations  were 
either  unknown  or  in  their  infancy.  Human  slavery 
existed  in  a  portion  of  the  United  States,  and  if  a  free 
workman  felt  disposed  to  complain  of  his  lot  he  was 
soothed  to  contentment  by  contrasting  it  with  that  of 
the  bondman  of  the  South.  With  the  abolition  of 
human  bondage  the  light  previously  focused  upon  the 
institution  of  slavery  turned  in  other  directions  and  the 
corporation,  then  becoming  a  fixed  institution,  attracted 
a  great  deal  of  attention.     As  the  light  did  not  pene- 


GROWTH    OF    ORGANIZED    INDUSTRY.  I5I 

trate  everywhere  mucli  appeared  dark  and  mysterious 
in  connection  vv'ith  the  corporation.  Population  in- 
creased and  with  it  the  demand  for  the  product  of 
labor.  Increased  demand  stimulated  enterprise  and 
caused  men  to  seek  the  best  means  of  supplying  the 
demand.  The  business  man,  or  manufacturer,  of  the 
olden  day  made  things  for  himself  and  family ;  some- 
times he  exchanged  articles  of  his  own  make  for  others 
made  by  his  neighbor.  His  work  was  all  done  in  and 
by  his  own  family.  This  order  of  things  could  not  last. 
The   individual  could  not  continue   to  supply   all  de- 

FORMATIOK    OF   PARTNERSHIPS   AND   CORPORATIONS. 

mands.  The  business  partnership  was  formed  and  was 
attacked  and  denounced  as  being  opposed  to  the  best 
interest  of  the  people  of  that  day.  Out  of  the  part- 
nership, as  a  matter  of  necessity,  grew  the  corpora- 
tion, with  enlarged  powers  and  greater  facilities  for 
supplying  demands,  ^^dlen  corporations  were  organ- 
ized and  began  to  attract  attention  they  were  regarded 
with  distrust ;  they  were  denounced  as  schemes  to 
plunder  the  people  and  crush  individual  enterprise. 
Even  conservative  men  of  that  time  were  doubtful  as 
to  the  wisdom  of  permitting  the  corporation  to  live  and 
thrive.  The  partnership  and  the  corporation  were 
made  necessary  by  growth  of  population,  closer  con- 
tact between  members  of  the  human  family  and  the 
growing  wants  and  desires  of  mankind.  The  indi- 
vidual, through  his  own  unaided  eflfort,  could  not  sup- 


152  GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED    INDUSTRY. 

ply  the  demand  and  he  entered  into  co-partnership 
with  his  neighbor.  Production  through  the  aid  of 
machinery,  more  expensive  at  first  than  by  hand,  called 
for  the  exercise  of  more  capital  than  the  individual  or 
even  the  partnership  could  provide,  and  corporation 
naturally  followed  on  the  heels  of  partnership.  Some, 
jealous  of  infringement  on  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  individual  by  the  corporation,  others  ignorant  of 
the  necessity  which  called  it  into  being,  and  others  still 
who  saw  in  the  growth  of  the  corporation  an  oppor- 
tunity to  popularize  themselves  with  the  masses  by 
playing  the  demagogue,  opposed  and  denounced  the 
corporation  as  wicked,  subversive  of  the  rights  of  the 
people  and  a  menace  to  their  liberties.  Patriotism 
joined  hands  with  ignorance  and  selfishness  in  oppos- 
ing an  institution  which  was  made  necessary  by  the 
changed  process  of  production,  an  increasing  popula- 
tion and  a  corresponding  increase  in  demand  for 
something  better  than  existed  before.    To-day  we  have 

COMBINATIONS    OF    BUSINESS    CONCERNS. 

the  combination  of  business  concerns  known  as  the 
trust,  which  is  no  more  or  less  than  a  partnership  of 
corporations ;  and  the  end  is  not  yet,  for  enterprise 
will  not  be  checked  and  progress  must  go  forward  in- 
stead of  backward.  The  combination  of  corporations, 
or  trusts,  has  existed  for  years  and  has  received  the 
sanction  and  approval  of  the  people.  Take  our  rail- 
roads  as  an   illustration :     Once  the    passenger    was 


GROWTH    OF    ORGANIZED    INDUSTRY.  1 53 

obliged  to  change  cars  at  the  terminus  of  every  line. 
The  cars  of  one  road  were  not  permitted  to  run  over 
the  tracks  of  another.  The  gauge  of  the  various  rail- 
roads differed  in  width,  from  three  all  the  way  to  six 
feet.  Railroads  entering  a  town  had  separate  depots 
in  order  to  give  the  stage  and,  hack  driver  an  oppor- 
tunity to  "jolt  your  bones  over  the  stones"  from  one 
station  to  another.  That  old  system  has  been  com- 
pletely revolutionized.  To-day  all  railroad  lines  in 
the  country  are  of  the  same  gauge ;  the  cars  are  nearly 
all  modeled  on  the  same  plan ;  the  passenger  may  take 
his  seat  or  berth  in  a  car  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and 
remain  therein  to  his  destination,  though  it  be  across 
the  continent.  Freight,  is  not  shipped  as  heretofore, 
but  continues  on  from  consignor  to  consignee  without 
change  of  cars,  though  a  dozen  lines  of  railroad  be 
crossed  in  the  journey.  A  union  station  in  a  large 
city  may  be  the  terminus  for  a  dozen  or  more  lines  of 
railway.  Travelers  may  purchase  tickets  over  all  lines 
from  one  agent  without  let  or  hindrance.  Attendants 
in  uniform,  civil  and  courteous,  answer  all  questions 
and  give  directions  to  all  incoming  and  outgoing  pas- 
sengers. The  public  is  the  gainer  by  all  of  this  for  the 
dangers,  discomforts  and  uncertainties  of  railroad 
travel  have  been  reduced  to  the  minimum,  while  the 
wear  and  tear  on  the  individual,  his  clothing  and  his 
pocketbook  have  been  greatly  reduced.  No  one  would 
go  back  to  the  old  system,  and  yet  this  is  the  result  of 
a  combination,  or  partnership,  of  corporations.     Tn  the 


154  GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY. 

CORPORATIONS  OF  WORKINGMEN. 

management  of  corporations  vvorkingmen  have  taken 
no  interest  or  part  other  than  to  perform  a  certain 
service  under  certain  conditions  and  for  a  stipulated 
wage.  How  the  corporation  was  managed,  who  its 
stockholders  or  directors  were,  or  whether  it  paid  a 
dividend  on  capital  invested  was  seldom  the  subject  of 
inquiry  among  its  employes.  The  corporation  was  an 
organization  by  itself,  its  officers,  directors  and  stock- 
holders gave  little  heed  or  thought  to  the  labor  ques- 
tion— so-called — as  understood  by  the  employes.  The 
employer  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  be  informed 
as  to  the  desires,  wants,  ambitions  or  purposes  of  his 
employes.  The  employes,  on  the  other  hand,  formed  a 
corporation  of  their  own  for  mutual  protection.  They 
gave  consideration  to  the  regulation  of  the  hours  of 
labor,  rates  of  wages,  apprenticeship  and  such  other 
conditions  as  affected  them  in  their  daily  labor.  The 
industrial  problem  from  first  to  last  has  been  regarded 
as  a  one-sided  question  by  employer  and  employed, 
each  one  as  though  there  was  but  one  side  to  it  and 
that  his  was  that  side.  This  "one-sided"  view  of  the 
situation  has  given  rise  to  the  strained  conditions  which 
exist  between  forces  of  production  that  should  act  in 
harmony  in  order  to  obtain  the  best  results.  How 
much  the  opposition  to  corporations  in  the  beginning 
is  responsible  for  this  condition  of  affairs  I  do  not 
pretend  to  know,  but  that  it  influenced  workingmen  to 


GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY.  1 55 

look  with  distrust  and  suspicion  on  the  corporation  is 
largely  true.  This  distrust  and  suspicion  has  caused 
them  to  stand  at  a  distance  from  their  employers,  or, 
to  be  more  accurate,  from  the  concerns  their  employers 
represent.  I  believe  that  in  the  main  our  corporations 
are  fairly  well  managed,  that  their  affairs  are  economic- 
ally administered ;  but  only  those  who  are  on  the  "in- 
side" can  determine  the  policy  of  the  concern.     Right 

WORKMEN   SHOULD  INVEST  IN  THE  STOCK  OF  THE   COR- 
PORATION   FOR    WHICH    THEY    WORK. 

here  I  deem  it  proper  to  say  that  I  have  for  years  en- 
tertained the  opinion  that  workingmen  should  invest  as 
much  of  the  profit  of  their  labor  in  the  stocks  of  the 
corporation  they  work  for  as  they  can  afford.  In  do- 
ing this  they  attain  a  double  end — by  adding  to  their 
income  and  securing  steady  employment.  The  man 
who  has  no  more  interest  in  the  coal  or  earth  he  lifts 
upon  his  shovel  than  the  shovel  itself  has  cannot  be 
expected  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  success  or  wel- 
fare of  the  corporation  employing  him ;  but  let  him  in- 
vest his  money,  be  it  much  or  little,  in  the  concern,  let 
him  become  a  part  of  it  and  he  then  realizes  that  a 
portion  of  every  shovelful  of  earth,  coal  or  other 
material  produced  by  his  labor  is  his  and  it  will  then 
be  to  his  interest  to  not  only  produce  the  best  results 
but  to  prevent  cessation  of  operations  through  misun- 
derstandings. To  have  a  voice  in  directing  the  affairs 
of  the  corporation ;  to  have  a  representative  among  the 


156  GROWTH    OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY. 

directors  would  insure  confidence,  and  the  organiza- 
tions of  labor  and  capital  would  then  find  it  to  their  in- 
terest to  co-operate  in  finding  and  keeping  a  market  for 
their  joint  product,  for  they  would  then  be  bound  by 
ties  of  self-interest.  Say  what  we  will,  selfishness  lies 
very  near  the  base  of  every  human  effort  to  produce 
results,  and  if  a  workingman  secures  an  interest  in 
the  concern  he  works  for  he  will  put  forth  extra 
effort  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  company  and 
thereby  add  to  his  own  income.  If  it  is  questioned 
whether  workingmen  can  afford  to  invest  their  earn- 
ings in  the  corporation  they  work  with,  I  point  to  the 
strike  now  going  on  in  the  anthracite  coal  region  of 
Pennsylvania.  That  strike  began  on  the  12th  of  last 
May  and  has  continued  ever  since.  Statisticians  say 
that  it  has  been  carried  on  at  a  cost  to  the  mine  work- 
ers, in  loss  of  wages,  of  $25,000,000.  This  vast  sum 
of  money  has  been  contributed  directly  by  the  work- 
ingmen battling  for  a  principle  in  which  they  believe, 
and  if  they  could  not  afford  to  contribute  that  amount 
they  could  not  have  remained  on  strike  so  long.  Un- 
til very  recently  they  did  not  ask  for  or  accept  relief; 
they  fell  back  upon  their  savings,  maintaining  them- 
selves and  families  during  this  period  of  idleness.  The 
impression  prevails  in  some  places  that  our  coal  min- 
ers are  improvident  and  thriftless,  but  nothing  can  be 
farther  from  the  truth.  They  are  economical,  thrifty 
and  temperate.  With  the  exception  of  the  alien  ele- 
ment, that  intends  to  go  back  to  Europe  on  the  accu- 


GROWTH   OF   ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY.  1 5/ 

mulation  of  a  small  sum  of  money,  they  aim  at  own- 
ing or  already  own  their  own  homes.  I  spent  the  best 
years  of  my  life  among  them  and  know  that  a  more 
law-abiding,  peaceable,  industrious  and  economical 
body  of  men  does  not  exist  than  our  English-speaking 
and  German  miners.  When,  therefore,  these  men 
comprising  this  one  calling  can  afford  an  expenditure 
of  $25,000,000,  which  in  the  channels  of  trade  will 
never  return  to  them,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that,  having  confidence  in  the  concerns  they  work  for, 
they  could  afford  to  invest  a  portion  of  that  vast  sum 
in  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  the  coal  companies,  and  thus 
become  sharers  as  well  as  producers  of  the  profits.    It 

SHAREHOLDING     WILL    UNITE    CAPITAL    AND    LABOR     IN 
THE  SAME  HANDS. 

is  absolutely  certain  that  the  remedy  for  our  indus- 
trial ills  does  not  lie  in  a  return  to  the  old  snail-like 
methods  of  production.  The  partnership  and  the  cor- 
poration did  not  come  because  the  individual  desired 
it,  but  because  he  could  not  help  it,  and  he  need  never 
again  hope  to  carry  on  a  separate  business  with  his 
own  capital  and  in  his  own  little  shop.  He  should  di- 
rect his  attention  to  something  to  constitute  its  economic 
equivalent,  and  the  ownership  of  as  many  shares  of 
stock  as  he  can  afford  in  some  of  the  present-day  cor- 
porations will  approach  nearer  to  that  end  than  any- 
thing that  now  suggests  itself  to  my  mind.     Capital 


158  GROWTH    OF    ORGANIZED   INDUSTRY. 

and  labor  in  the  hands  of  the  individual  producer  were 
once  united ;  under  favorable  conditions  and  laws  they 
may  again  be  united  in  the  same  hands.  To  bring 
about  such  a  condition  the  men  who  make  and  those 
who  own  should  lay  aside  at  least  part  of  their  preju- 
dices. Heretofore  each  side  has  distrusted  its  neighbor. 
They  looked  at  each  other's  virtues  through  a  tele- 
scope, but  in  examining  faults  they  used  a  microscope. 
Could  they  come  together,  as  men  in  the  same  business 
should,  they  would  realize  that  the  labor  question  has 
two  component  parts — the  capital  advancing,  directing 
part  and  the  performing,  capital  creating  part. 

A     CLOSER     ACQUAINTANCESHIP     FOR     EMPLOYERS     AND 
EMPLOYES. 

Confidence  lacking,  co-operation  in  business  could 
not  succeed.  The  individual  had  confidence  in  the  suc- 
cess of  his  business  when  managing  it  alone ;  he  should 
not  lack  confidence  when  associated  with,  and  receiv- 
ing help  from  others.  In  daylight  or  dark  this  earth  is 
the  same,  but  we  see  and  know  it  better  in  the  sun- 
light. To  know  the  corporation  we  should  get  closer 
to  it  and  observe  its  operations  under  a  clear  light.  To 
know  the  trade  tmion  one  must  not  stand  at  a  distance. 
Some  of  the  most  successful  business  men  of  the  day 
were  once  workingmen,  many  received  their  first  les- 
sons in  business  in  the  labor  organization.  It  is  a  need- 
less waste  of  time,  energy  and  wealth  for  the  corpora- 


GROWTH  OF  ORGANIZED  INDUSTRY.       I59 

tions  of  labor  and  capital  to  stand  apart  and  remain 
unknown  to  each  other.  They  should  be  brought  to- 
gether, and  the  world  owes  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  those 
who  originated  the  plan  of  bringing  the  "employer  and 
employe"  close  enough  to  introduce  them  and  lay  the 
foundation  for  a  larger  acquaintanceship  in  the  future. 


OPPORTUNITIES     OF     THE     INDUSTRIAL 
SOCIAL     SECRETARY. 


ELIZABETH     C.     WHEELER,    SOCIAL    SECRETARY     OF     THE 
SHEPARD  COMPANY,    PROVIDENCE,    R.    I. 


OPPORTUNITIES     OF    THE    INDUSTRIAL 
SOCIAL  SECRETARY. 


BY   ELIZABETH   C.    WHEELER,   SOCIAL  SECRETARY  OF  THE 
SHEPARD    COMPANY,    PROVIDENCE,    R.    I. 


Before  the  industrial  revolution,  when  enterprises 
were  small  and  master  and  men  worked  in  the  same 
shop,  they  knew  each  other  and  each  other's  families. 
If  an  employe  was  in  trouble  or  distress  of  any  kind 
the  employer  had  every  opportunity  to  be  as  helpful 
as  he  desired. 

INDUSTRIAL  NEEDS  CREATE  A  NEW  PROFESSION. 

But  with  the  rise  of  the  factory  system,  the  corpora- 
tion and  the  trust  the  interests  of  business  have  become 
so  great  as  to  completely  absorb  the  time  of  those  di- 
rectly responsible,  they  cannot  call  every  man  by 
name  or  give  much  attention  to  matters  of  environ- 
ment pertaining  to  the  workers.  The  personal  ele- 
ment has  been  lost,  estrangement  has  arisen.  A  feel- 
ing that  the  interests  of  employer  and  employe  are  at 
variance  renders  suspicion  and  misunderstanding 
10  163 


164  THE   INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

easy.  The  new  conditions  have  created  a  new  need, 
and  the  need  a  new  profession — the  social  secretary — 
one  who  can  devote  her  entire  time  to  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  employes,  attend  to  sanitary  and  physical 
conditions,  seek  to  increase  the  general  intelligence, 
foster  a  healthful  social  life,  and  strive  to  improve  the 
general  morals.  This  office  is  one  of  the  necessary  re- 
sults of  a  busy  commercial  era.  Many  of  the  strained 
labor  situations  undoubtedly  result  from  lack  of  per- 
sonal contact  between  employer  and  employe.  The 
two  have  drifted  apart  as  industrial  conditions  have 
changed.  It  is  scarcely  more  than  a  generation  since 
the  employer  was  personally  overseeing  his  men.  To- 
day many  employes  in  large  establishments  seldom  if 
ever  see  the  responsible  head.  Growth  of  industry  is 
chiefly  responsible  for  this,  and  the  need  of  an  inter- 
mediary was  long  ago  impressed  upon  very  large  man- 
ufacturers. Heads  of  departments  are  not  always 
desirable  persons  for  this  office,  since  they  have  not 
a  grasp  on  the  alTairs  of  the  whole  establishment. 

This  is  one  of  the  problems  brought  about  by  the 
changed  industrial  and  economic  conditions — the  great 
concentration  of  capital  and  massing  of  humanity. 

PERSONAL  TOUCH  LOST NEW  POINT  OF  CONTACT 

WANTED. 

When  in  the  old  times  master  and  men  lived  and 
worked  together,  a  daily  point  of  contact  existed  be- 
tween them,  but  under  present  conditions  there  remains 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL    SECRETARY.  1 65 

no  longer  the  personal  touch,  and  sympathy  is  lost  in 
estrangement.  Increasing  intelligence  develops  dissat- 
isfaction with  environment  and  a  demand  for  definite, 
defined  improvements.  Xot  that  it  would  be  desirable, 
even  were  it  possible,  to  return  to  former  methods, 
but  to  establish  a  new  point  of  contact,  adapted  to 
modern  days,  is  the  problem  facing  conscientious  or 
progressive  industrial  employers  of  our  time. 

Some  are  fearful  that  in  their  attempts  to  do  the 
right  thing  they  may  make  mistakes  and  that  the  last 
state  will  be  worse  than  the  first,  but  as  all  the  won- 
ders of  modern  mechanical  invention  have  come 
through  experiments  with  physical  forces,  so  our  ani- 
mate machines  whose  motive  power  is  not  steam  or 
electricity,  but  blood,  must  be  experimented  with  on 
the  moral  side  until  we  succeed  in  contriving  a  balance 
of  adjustment. 

It  is  primarily  the  work  of  the  Social  Secretary  to 
make  these  experiments,  to  study  the  science  of  human 
progress  in  the  home  of  the  w^orker  as  her  laboratory, 
and  to  tell  the  employer  how  he  may  establish  a  de- 
sired point  of  contact  between  himself  and  his  imme- 
diate staff  and  the  rank  and  file  of  his  industrial  army. 
She  practically  becomes  a  board  of  arbitration  and 
conciliation  for  the  employing  business. 

WANTED,    IMPROVED    CONDITIONS,    NOT    CHARITY. 

As  capital  is  useless  without  management  to  direct 
it.  so  are  both  capital  and  management  dependent  upon 


1 66  THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

labor  to  execute  their  will.  Hence  it  is  to  the  direct 
interest  of  the  employer  to  do  all  in  his  power  for  the 
worker.  A  more  vigorous  man  will  do  more  work,  a 
more  intelligent  man  will  do  better  work,  and  a  more 
conscientious  man  will  do  more  faithful  work.  In 
short,  the  most  successful  worker,  the  one  who  con- 
tributes most  toward  his  employer's  success,  is  that 
man  or  woman  in  whom  intelligence  is  supported  by 
enthusiasm — a  condition  dependent  upon  intellectual 
and  physical  vigor.  Now,  if  we  can  add  to  this  a 
moral  vigor,  the  desire  to  please,  a  keen  eagerness  in 
furthering  the  interests  of  the  employer,  we  establish 
an  ideal  plane  for  efficient  practical  business. 

Efforts  looking  toward  industrial  betterment  have 
not  always  met  encouragement  from  those  whom 
they  were  intended  to  help,  but  this  may  gen- 
erally be  traced  to  a  dread  of  paternalism  or 
fear  on  the  part  of  the  recipients  that  they  are 
being  regarded  as  objects  of  charity.  When 
such  men  and  women  can  be  made  to  understand 
that  all  this  is  done  for  the  same  reason  that  gear- 
ings are  kept  well  oiled,  they  accept  it  as  a  duty  of 
life — a  part  of  their  business.  All  idea  of  charity  be- 
ing done  away  with,  they  take  a  livelier  interest  in 
self-improvement.  Just  as  with  the  capitalist,  who 
is  coming  more  and  more  to  realize  how  much  better 
it  is  to  create  conditions  which  make  for  the  abolition 
of  poverty  than  to  foster  conditions  which  necessarily 
induce  it  and  then  alleviate  some  of  the  consequent 
suffering. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  167 

Instead  of  giving  away  large  sums  of  money  for 
beneficent  purposes — money  made  from  profits  of  the 
business — an  increasing  number  prefer  to  divide  profits 
more  liberally  with  the  people  who  are  helping  to  build 
up  that  business. 

All  this  tends  to  establish  a  confidence  which  is 
entirely  incompatible  with  the  old  idea  that  the  capi- 
talist is  a  thief  and  a  robber,  as  well  as  to  overthrow 
the  feeling  so  general  among  unskilled  laborers,  that 
their  employers  belong  to  an  entirely  different  spe- 
cies of  humanity,  who  could  not  possibly  see  life  from 
their  point  of  view. 

Labor  troubles  have  frequently  grown  from  a  lack 
of  proper  attention  on  the  part  of  the  employer  to  the 
conditions  surrounding  workmen  industrially  and  so- 
cially, and  it  is  by  observance  of  these  defects  and 
timely  suggestions  for  their  remedy  that  the  Social  Sec- 
retary becomes  of  value.  Industrial  reform  has  thus 
far  developed  chiefly  in  the  line  of  better  sanitary 
arrangements  in  factories  and  shops,  accommodations 
for  workmen  during  luncheon,  change  of  hours  and 
other  small  and  large  efforts  to  improve  the  conditions 
for  work.  In  these  things,  and  in  appreciating  and 
adjusting  mere  misunderstandings  before  they  attain 
a  serious  growth,  the  intermediary  has  frequently 
proven  a  valuable  functionary  to  employer  and  em- 
ploye. The  fact  that  this  is  recognized  by  both  is  one 
of  the  hopeful  industrial  signs. 


1 68  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

OPPORTUNITY    TO   LIVE   RIGHT. 

What  is  needed  for  the  harmonizing  of  society  is  an 
opportunity  for  each  and  very  man  and  woman  to  Hve 
his  own  individual  life.  This  cannot  be  done  when 
each  is  to  his  neighbor  "No.  287"  or  "No.  6039." 
Hamilton  Mabie  says  the  way  to  do  good  is  by  "giv- 
ing breathing  space  to  the  soul,"  that,  unhampered 
and  untrammeled,  it  may  develop  on  its  own  lines 
and  become  a  vital  power  in  the  world.  The  measure 
of  a  man's  greatness  is  his  vitality.  The  characteristic 
of  all  creative  men  is  that  they  are  intensely  alive. 
We  do  not  create  power,  we  utilize  it.  With  us,  as 
with  nature,  vitality  is  the  creative  power,  and  the 
degree  in  which  man  or  woman  possesses  it  marks  the 
intellectual  life. 

MONOTONY    WEARIES   THE    MIND, 

Now,  how  is  the  man  who  hammers  at  a  bench  ten 
hours  of  each  twenty-four,  or  the  girl  who  tends  a 
machine  or  who  measures  and  sells  ribbon  from  8 
a.  m.  to  6  or  10  p.  m.,  to  develop  vitality,  either  physical 
or  mental.  The  noisy  din  of  the  hammer  pursues  the 
one,  even  in  his  sleep,  and  his  senses  become  clogged. 
Similarly,  the  girl  calculates  in  her  dreams  five  and 
three-eighth  yards  at  forty-nine  cents  per  yard,  and 
the  exact  change  from  $5.00.  To  be  sure,  the  mental 
process  of  the  girl  has  more  of  opportunity  than  the 
counting  of  the  number  of  strokes  to  the  minute  of 
the  anvil,  l)ut  in  both  cases  we  have  the  same  monotony 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  169 

pursuing  us  daily  and  hourly ;  the  mind  becomes  weary 
and  craves  stimulant.  The  ironworker  is  prone  to 
seek  it  in  strong  drink,  the  saleswoman  or  factory  girl 
in  the  pursuit  of  excitement.  We  have  been  preach- 
ing from  the  "Don't"  text  for  generations,  only  to 
learn  that  it  is  a  positive,  not  a  negative,  force  which 
will  win. 

YOU    ARE    YOUR    BROTHER'S    KEEPER. 

There  is  an  old  story  of  an  evil  spirit  cast  out  of  a 
man,  which  spirit  wandered  up  and  down  in  dry  places 
without  finding  rest.  At  length  he  said  to  himself, 
'T  will  return  to  the  house  whence  I  was  cast  out," 
and  he  found  the  house  empty,  swept  and  garnished. 
The  house  had  been  cleaned  after  the  foul  spirit  was 
cast  out,  but  because,  on  returning,  he  found  it 
"empty,"  he  took  possession  of  it  with  seven  other 
spirits  worse  than  himself.  We  may  crush  out  of  peo- 
ple's lives  every  sentiment  but  that  of  work,  and  fill 
their  hours  and  absorb  their  strength,  compelling  them 
to  eat  bread  in  the  sweat  of  the  brow,  and  we  may 
fold  our  hands  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  preacher 
who  discourses  upon  the  dignity  of  labor ;  we  may  even 
flatter  ourselves  that  we  are  requiring  but  one-third 
of  the  hours  of  the  week  for  such  labor,  and  that  an- 
other one-third  is  devoted  to  sleep,  but  what  do  we 
concern  ourselves  about  the  remaining  third?  Am  I 
my  brother's  keeper?  D'oes  it  concern  me  whether 
the  girl  who  fits  my  gown  spends  her  evening  in  a 
brothel,  or  the  man  who  makes  my  shoes  frequents 


170  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

saloons  out  of  work  hours?  I  need  not  say  that  it 
does  concern  the  community,  but  I  want  to  emphasize 
the  fact  that  it  even  more  concerns  the  employer. 

HUMANITARIANISM     AND    BUSINESS. 

Now,  there  are  two  points  of  view  from  which  we 
may  consider  this  question.  Call  them  the  optimistic 
and  the  pessimistic,  if  you  will;  I  prefer  the  terms 
humanitarian  and  business.  These  great  industrial  es- 
tablishments are  not  conducted  for  philanthorpy,  nor 
yet  are  their  proprietors  entirely  heartless.  It  is,  there- 
fore, that  the  employer  may  secure  better  results  from 
labor,  as  well  as  to  better  the  conditions  of  the  em- 
ployed, that  the  office  of  Social  Secretary  has 
been  created.  There  are  large  proprietors  who 
realize  the  importance  of  these  things  from  a 
true  sense  of  fitness  and  justice.  One  man 
gave  as  his  reason  for  adopting  the  principles  of 
social  betterment  that  he  could  not  feel  right 
in  pocketing  a  profit  of  250  per  cent  from  his  business 
wliile  his  men  remained  in  poverty,  though  receiving 
schedule  wages.  Another  prints  on  the  title  page  of 
its  staff  publication :  "It's  right  to  accord  employes 
that  full  measure  of  courtesy  and  respect  which  is  ex- 
pected from  them ;  and  the  management  that  fails  to 
see  and  appreciate  this  needs  more  light."  Other  em- 
ployers openly  affirm  that  they  adopted  these  princi- 
ples solely  because  of  the  better  service  thus  induced, 
and  because  they  believe  the  public  appreciates  such 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAI.   SECRETARY.  I/I 

endeavors  and  will  carry  its  trade  where  such  methods 
are  employed,  thus  showing  approval  of  such  a  course. 
This  indirectly  compels  others  to  follow  the  example. 
Who  shall  adversely  criticise  this  spirit?  It  may  not 
be  ideal,  but  there  is  certainly  one  vantage  ground. 
It  gives  employes  no  opportunity  for  thinking  them- 
selves objects  of  charity. 

POSITION   OF   SOCIAL   SECRETARY    NO  SINECURE. 

But  whatever  motive  may  have  placed  a  Social  Sec- 
retary in  her  position,  she  has  no  sinecure.  Her  duties 
require  training,  tact,  intelligence,  sympathy  and  ex- 
perience of  life.  She  must  possess  originality  and  a 
power  of  adaptation.  She  must  cultivate  habits  of 
close  observation  and  diplomacy,  exercise  judgment 
and  discretion  in  cases  of  friction,  be  familiar  with 
principles  of  hygiene,  and  of  a  winning  personality, 
that  she  may  command  not  only  respect,  but  the  love 
and  confidence  of  the  people  under  her  charge.  She 
must  have  an  oversight  of  the  library  and  superintend 
the  entertainments  provided  to  raise  money  for  it  or 
other   purposes. 

When  young  girls  ask  for  the  "Internal  City"  or 
"Who  Is  Your  Schoolmaster,"  she,  with  habitual  ex- 
pression, passes  out  the  copy  of  Caine  or  Eggleston, 
knowing  that  even  a  smile  would  afterward  be  remem- 
bered and  understood.  When  the  book  is  returned,  by 
a  little  tactful  questioning  she  draws  out  the  reader's 
idea  of  the  story  and  finds  a  way  to  explain  the  fitness 


172  THE   INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

of  the  title,  which  indehbly  expresses  it,  at  the  same 
time  teaching  the  lesson  that  a  little  reflection  will 
tend  to  exactness.  Sometimes  she  is  compelled  to 
tliink  fast  and  hard,  as  when  ''the  biggest  thing  out" 
is  called  for  and  she  takes  from  the  shelf  "The  Great- 
est Thing  in  the  World,"  offering  a  silent  prayer  of 
thankfulness  that  her  applicants  are  interested  in  read- 
ing that  masterpiece  of  Drummond's. 

MAKE    GOOD    LITERATURE   ACCESSIBLE. 

We  have  all  become  familiar  in  the  past  two  years 
with  the  remarkable  development  of  the  Booklovers' 
Library.  We  have  acquaintance,  too,  with  a  later 
branch  of  its  work,  the  Tabard  Inn,  to  which  one  may, 
by  becoming-  a  life  member,  exchange  his  book  in  any 
city,  bank  or  railroad  station,  on  a  train  or  steamer 
even,  thus  avoiding  all  necessity  for  packing  a  trunk 
of  books  for  a  trip.  We  may  not  all,  however,  be  aware 
that  Mr.  Eaton  is  also  preparing  to  offer  to  industrial 
establishments  a  similar  service — placing  cases  of  books 
in  store  or  mill  for  use  of  employes,  replacing  with 
fresh  books  at  intervals  of  a  month  or  two,  and  all  at 
an  annual  rental  which  is  hardly  more  than  nominal. 
Such  a  case  has  already  l)een  placed  in  the  library  of 
[\\v  Shepard  Company  and  is  proving  very  popular. 

SOMIC   OF   Till':  DUTIES  OF  A   SOCIAL  SECRETARY. 

It  is  the  duly  of  the  Secretary  to  watch  the  lunch- 
rooms  and    sec   thai    the   proper    standard    of   food   is 


THE    INDUSTEIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  1/3 

maintained;  to  care  for  the  reading  room  and  its 
periodicals,  that  no  discordant  element  creep  in  to 
annoy  the  occupants.  She  must  hold  the  presidency 
of  the  girl's  club,  and  any  of  my  hearers  who  have  been 
president  of  a  woman's  club  will  corroborate  my  state- 
ment that  that  position  is  no  sinecure. 

She  must  be  prime  mover  in  planning  excursions 
and  outings  of  all  kinds,  which,  if  successful,  prove  so 
happy  a  feature  in  fraternizing  the  people.  If,  as  in 
some  department  stores  and  factories,  a  school  for 
cash  or  errand  boys  is  maintained,  it  becomes  the  Sec- 
retary's duty  to  act  as  supervisor  of  the  same.  In 
cases  of  illness  or  distress  it  is  the  Secretary  who  seeks 
out  the  absent  employe  and  brings  the  necessary  aid, 
whatever  it  be — physician,  nurse,  hospital  bed,  medi- 
cine, food,  rent,  clothing,  advice  or  sympathy — what- 
ever be  wanting  that  it  is  her  privilege  to  bestow.  If 
a  mutual  benefit  fund  exists  among  the  operatives,  the 
Secretary  takes  an  active  interest  in  its  workings,  lend- 
ing personal  assistance,  wherever  it  may  be  called  for, 
and  acting  as  a  member  of  its  board  of  directors. 

But  as  far  above  all  this  as  the  soul  is  higher  than 
the  body  rests  the  individual  personal  touch,  the  high 
ideals  of  life  made  attractive,  the  inculcating  of  noble 
aspiration  and  pure  living,  the  power  to  get  the  confi- 
dence of  a  girl  whose  breeding  has  been  of  the  "tum- 
bled-up''  variety,  and  to  reveal  to  her  the  "vision 
splendid." 

i\nd   rii^ht  here  lies  a  vast  difference  between  the 


174  THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

country  and  the  city  girl.  The  former  is  more  intense 
and  self-reliant;  the  latter  more  indifferent  and  in- 
clined to  lean  upon  another.  She  is  more  easily  led, 
be  it  upward  or  downward,  yet  when  she  goes  wrong 
she  is  not  so  prone  to  reach  extremes  as  her  sister,  to 
whom  the  attractions  of  the  city  have  come  with  the 
force  of  contrast,  and  after  she  has  broken  away  from 
parental  authority. 

CONDITIONS  THAT  TEMPT  TEMPTATIONS. 

The  temptations  to  which  working  girls  are  exposed 
often  lie,  to  a  great  extent,  in  the  environment  en- 
gendered by  their  peculiar  employment. 

Factory  girls,  shut  up  all  day  amid  the  noise  and  jar 
of  machinery,  breathing  an  atmosphere  laden  with  the 
odors  of  oil  or  leather,  find  relaxation  in  the  open  air, 
and,  work  hours  over,  in  lieu  of  better  place,  the  streets 
claim  them.  Parks  are  too  far  distant,  car  fares  often 
a  luxury;  and,  unfortunately,  it  is  not  the  best  streets 
which  are  most  convenient  of  access.  The  Social  Sec- 
retary here  will  devote  her  energies  largely  to  providing 
attractive  and  healthful  recreations  which  shall  meet 
just  these  conditions.  The  girls'  club  will  be  an  im- 
portant factor  in  her  work,  and  she  will  especially  aim 
at  entertainment  and  excursions.  Girls  who  have  ex- 
hausted their  vital  energies  before  6  o'clock  want  then 
to  be  amused.  It  used  to  be  said:  "Be  good  and  you 
will  be  happy,"  but  we  now  know  that  we  must  make 
people  happy  before  we  can  make  them  good. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  1 75 

Waitresses  in  hotels  and  restaurants  have  their  own 
peculiar  conditions  to  meet.  The  class  of  men  which 
makes  up  the  larger  part  of  the  patronage  of  such 
places  is  not  a  class  who  entertain  high  respect  for 
women. 

Stenographers  face  a  condition  of  their  own.  Do- 
mestic servants  see  too  much  of  the  failings  of  those 
they  might  otherwise  consider  their  superiors  and  be- 
come cynical,  gossiping,  impertinent  and  arrogant. 

PECULIAR    TEMPTATIONS    OF    YOUNG    SALESWOMEN. 

Among  saleswomen  we  find  still  another  tendency 
which  leads  directly  to  the  lowering  of  mental  and 
moral  standards.  It  is  through  the  love  of  dress 
that  the  young  saleswoman  takes  her  first  step  in  de- 
generation of  character.  She  sees  daily  passing  and 
repassing  before  her  the  most  handsomely  gowned 
women  of  the  city.  She  has  ever  displayed  before  her 
the  most  beautiful  fabrics,  and  as  she  exhibits  tliem, 
discussing  their  value  and  beauty,  her  own  artistic 
sense  is  quickened,  the  aesthetic  side  of  her  nature  is 
developed  at  the  expense  of  the  practical.  A  recent 
magazine  refers  to  this  subject  in  these  words :  "An- 
other good  phase  of  the  work  is  the  opportunity  it  has 
provided  for  social  secretaries  to  instill  into  the  minds 
of  their  charges  ideas  of  good  taste  in  dress.  It  has 
been  the  task  of  secretaries  to  point  out  that  frills, 
fripperies,  mussy  chiffons,  loud  colors,  soiled  laces, 
feathers  and  imitation  jewelry  are  in  poor  taste.     The 


176  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

temptations  of  salesgirls  are  many ;  they  see  fashion- 
ably dressed,  elaborately  dressed  women  buying  ex- 
travagant accessories  and  they  sometimes  long  to  own 
some  of  the  dainty  trimmings,  baubles  or  gewgaws 
they  handle.  The  social  secretaries  are  teaching  the 
girls  to  spend  their  money  only  for  things  of  intrinsic 
value." 

This  is  not,  however,  a  fair  criticism  as  applied  to 
girls  in  the  shops.  Their  tendency  is  not  for  the  cheap 
and  tawdry,  that  you  may  look  for  among  the  factory 
women ;  the  very  fact  that  the  girls  see  so  much  of  the 
best  leads  them  to  covet  only  the  choicest.  They  be- 
come connoisseurs  in  fabrics,  colors,  and  styles,  and 
they  will  spend  their  all,  even  borrow  money,  in  order 
to  have  only  that  which  is  really  good.  If  you  see  a 
girl  in  one  of  our  first-class  department  stores  decked 
out  in  fripperies  and  cheap  jewelry,  you  may  rest  as- 
sured that  that  girl  is  a  new  comer  and  that  she  will 
soon   fall   into  line. 

DRESS   AND   SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT. 

There  is  another  point  from  which  we  may  view  this 
question  of  dress — that  of  social  advancement.  It  is 
one  of  the  surest  and  most  generally  recognized  indi- 
cations of  the  steady  advance  of  civilization  that 
American  parents  invariably  strive  for  a  higher  social 
position  for  their  children  than  they  have  themselves 
attained.  Now  the  girl  who  has  a  definite  social 
standing — the  college  girl  or  the  child  of  wealth — can 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  1/7 

afford  to  be  independent  in  her  dress,  even  to  shab- 
biness,  but  the  working  girl  whose  family  lives  in  a 
tenement  knows  well  how  much  her  style  of  dress  has 
to  do  with  her  position.  Her  income  goes  into  her 
clothing  out  of  all  proportion  to  her  other  expenses. 
Miss  Addams  has  suggested  that  if  she  is  looking  for 
social  advancement,  this  is  perhaps  the  most  sensible 
thing  she  can  do.  Her  home,  in  its  scantiness  or 
tawdry  attempt  at  decoration  (too  often  the  result  of  a 
"rummage  sale")  is  never  seen  by  the  people  whose 
opinion  she  most  values.  Her  clothes  are  the  back- 
ground from  which  she  is  judged,  and  at  church  or 
the  theater  she,  by  aid  of  a  little  imagination,  may 
possess  the  consciousness  that  strangers  might  take 
her  for  one  of  the  four  hundred.  To  these,  the  garb 
is  everything,  and  until  attention  is  called  to  the  fact, 
they  have  not  discovered  that  culture  puts  its  mark 
upon  the  face,  and  that  they  have  thus  ignored  the 
most  important  feature.  That  imagination  does  in- 
dulge in  flights  of  this  nature  is  evidenced  by  the  class 
of  books  so  many  of  our  working  girls  read.  The 
doings  of  dukes  and  duchesses,  of  princes  and  titled 
nobility  generally  are  eagerly  devoured  and  passes  on 
until  literally  worn  out. 

In  a  city  of  less  than  200,000  inhabitants,  my  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  fact  that  in  a  dull  season  1,300 
of  these  books  were  disposed  of  in  less  than  two  days 
in  one  department  store.  A  large  proportion  of  these 
were  purchased  by  domestic  and  factory  employes. 


178  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

It  is  because  of  this  tendency  to  extravagance,  as 
also  because  it  adds  to  the  general  appearance,  that  a 
uniform  style  of  dress  seems  advisable  for  the  depart- 
ment store.  A  black,  or  dark  skirt  with  shirt  waist, 
white  or  Hght  in  summer,  black  in  winter,  is  best. 
This  is  the  most  sensible  dress  for  the  business  woman 
in  all  cases,  and  the  most  comfortable,  and  when  once 
adopted  becomes  the  cheapest. 

IN    FUNER.\L    EXPENSES    PRIDE    OVERRULES    JUDGMENT. 

While  speaking  of  extravagance,  I  want  to  say  just 
a  word  on  the  subject  of  funerals  and  mourning.  I 
have  known  more  than  one  family,  deeply  in  debt  for 
medical  attendance  and  necessaries  of  life,  with  an  in- 
come not  exceeding  $12  or  $15  per  week  for  the  entire 
family,  which  numbers  say  from  four  to  eight  persons, 
I  have  often  seen  such  families  paying  over  $100  for 
the  bare  expenses  of  the  burial,  besides  flowers,  and  all 
the  women  putting  on  deep  mourning.  I  have  known 
a  mother  to  pawn  the  toys  purchased  for  her  children's 
Christmas  to  provide  a  suit  of  sables  for  herself  on 
occasion  of  the  death  of  her  baby.  So  long  as  people 
who  can  afford  these  things  set  the  example,  those 
who  cannot  will  follow,  for  pride  overrules  judg- 
ment, 

PRACTICAL      ECONOMY   SHOULD   BE   TAUGHT. 

Too  often  mischief  is  done  by  well-meaning  but 
thoughtless  persons  in  cultivating  a  taste  for  gew- 
gaws in  young  girls  by  making  them  gifts  of  such  ar- 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  1 79 

tides.  It  is  very  important  that  the  Social  Secretary 
be  a  practical  economist.  She  must  teach  people  who 
have  but  little  money  how  to  so  spend  that  little  as  to 
have  a  margin  left  for  "'a  rainy  day."  Many  a  girl  has 
come  to  me  when  the  vacations  were  announced,  desir- 
ing that  I  endeavor  to  arrange  for  her  to  go  later  than 
the  assigned  date,  because,  as  she  did  not  expect  it  so 
soon,  she  had  not  saved  any  money,  and  so  could  not 
enjoy  her  leisure  to  advantage. 

It  is  a  fact  of  some  significance,  I  think,  that  no  more 
is  saved  on  a  salary  of  $12  a  week  than  on  $8.  The 
girl  dresses  better,  goes  out  more  evenings,  perhaps 
takes  more  expensive  boarding  place,  but  she  does  not 
save  any  more.  From  this  may  we  not  argue  that  a 
living  wage  paid,  and  environments  made  the  best 
possible,  will  develop  more  character  and  efficiency 
than  an  increase  in  actual  cash  paid  to  the  employe? 
I  am  not  prepared  as  yet  to  state  this  as  a  fact,  but  it 
certainly  is  one  of  the  problems  now  before  us.  When 
a  man's  salary  is  increased,  if  he  has  formed  a  habit 
of  borrowing  he  will  continue  to  borrow,  but  on  a 
larger  scale,  commensurate  with  his  wages.  I  mean 
in  this,  of  course,  to  refer  only  to  such  as  are  earning  a 
living  income, 

I  sometimes  think  the  people  in  our  shops  look  more 
lightly  upon  the  value  of  money  because  handling  so 
much  of  it,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  course  to  keep  it  in 
circulation. 

11 


l80  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

PENNY   PROVIDENT   WORK. 

Penny  provident  work  is  largely  confined  to  chil- 
dren and  women  who  are  at  home — not  to  those  who 
are  earning  a  daily  moiety.  A  few  cents  for  this  or 
that  is  not  missed  at  the  time,  and  it  is  only  by  keeping 
records  of  small  expenditures  that  the  Social  Secre- 
tary can  inculcate  a  spirit  of  thrift. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Club,  in  a  small  Mas- 
sachusetts town,  the  question  was  raised  of  establish- 
ing penny  provident  work  among  the  children.  Now 
B — — ■ —  is  a  model  town,  no  slums,  no  factories,  a 
normal  school  to  uphold  the  educational  standard,  and 
it  was  thought  that  such  work  was  not  needed  there. 
All  the  people  were  well-to-do,  and,  it  was  believed, 
too  well-trained  for  such  foolish  squandering  of 
money,  even  among  the  little  folk.  As  the  vote  was 
about  to  be  called  a  quiet  woman  arose,  saying  that 
she  had  happened  to  be  at  the  railroad  station  the  day 
before,  where  she  overheard  a  commercial  traveler 
tell  a  comrade  that  he  had  just  sold  $75  worth  of 
chewing  gum  in  the  village. 

We  have  a  vacation  club  in  our  business,  including 
some  fifty  girls,  who  every  pay  day  pass  to  the  treas- 
urer one  dollar.  At  the  end  of  the  season,  when  va- 
cation time  comes,  the  money  is  drawn  from  the  bank 
and  divided,  and  a  good  time  assured. 

Miss  Wilkins  has  portrayed  an  excellent  picture  of 
thoughtlessness  regarding  financial  obligations  in  her 
"Portion  of  Labor,"  which  is  only  too  frequent. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  l8l 

NEED   OF  FRIENDLY  RESTRAINT. 

All  these  things  point  to  a  lack  of  mental  training. 
Our  schools  do  much,  but  not,  as  yet,  do  they  produce 
desirable  results  in  character  building.  Weakness 
and  fluctuation  are  everywhere  rife,  and  all  social 
workers  agree,  I  believe,  that  above  all  else  we  must 
teach  people  to  think  for  themselves  and  to  respect 
their  own  opinions.  The  worst  lesson  that  can  be 
taught  a  man,  is  to  rely  upon  others  and  whine  over 
his   sufferings. 

Girls  leave  school  just  as  soon  as  they  have  passed 
the  age  limit,  and  enter  the  industrial  world.  Su- 
perior, most  of  them,  except  in  experience  of  life,  to 
the  mothers  whose  advantages  have  not  equaled  their 
own,  they  soon  (if  there  be  not  somewhere  within 
reach  a  restraining  hand)  develop  a  bold  carelessness 
which  leads  straight  to  a  path  of  danger.  And  this 
restraining  hand  must  be  a  friendly  one.  and  one  in 
which  the  girl  can  place  all  confidence.  At  home  she 
had  the  mother,  at  school  a  favorite  teacher,  but  now 
there  is  no  one,  or  was  no  one,  until  the  Social  Sec- 
retary appeared  above  the  industrial  horizon — a  star 
of  the  first  magnitude. 

THINGS    A    SOCIAL    SECRETARY    IS    ASKED    TO    DO. 

The  daily  requests  made  to  a  Social  Secretary  for 
advice  or  assistance  present  a  kaleidoscopic  variety 
ranging  through  matters  of  health,  board,  tenements. 


l82  THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

courses  of  study  for  evening,  increased  salary,  vaca- 
tion, shirt  waist  patterns,  a  dentist,  the  writing  of  an 
epitaph  to  be  placed  on  an  ancestor's  tombstone,  investi- 
gation of  the  character  of  a  young  man  for  the  con- 
scientious girl  to  whom  he  is  paying  his  devotions ; 
standing  by  a  patient  while  ether  is  administered  for 
a  surgical  operation,  or  chaperoning  a  ball ;  the 
discovery  that  a  woman  holding  an  important  position 
in  the  business  is  making  use  of  her  influence  to  en- 
tangle young  girls  in  a  traffic  in  souls ;  the  interesting 
of  herself  in  hospital  patients,  whose  names  are 
brought  to  her  by  tlie  employes  or  their  friends,  who 
themselves  know  that  the  weight  of  the  Secretary's 
influence  will  compel  more  kindly  care;  the  placing  of 
a  child  in  some  home,  or  how  to  manage  a  wayward 
tot.  Be  it  understood  that  many  of  the  women  em- 
ployed in  the  great  establishments  are  wives,  widows 
and  mothers,  some  of  them  having  large  families  who 
must  be  left  to  the  care  of  the  eldest  (not  more  than 
ten  or  twelve,  perhaps)  while  the  mother  is  away  at 
her  work  earning  the  pittance  to  feed  and  clothe  them. 
But  the  history  of  the  "little  mothers"  is  another  story. 
Don't  think,  however,  that  the  Social  Secretary  is 
ready  to  meet  every  demand.  She  would  need  re- 
sources even  as  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  and  to  be  infal- 
lible as  well.  She  must,  however,  possess  some  na- 
tural fitness  and  training,  together  with  a  capacity  for 
hard   work. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL    SECRETARY.  183 

THE    SOCIAL    SECRETARY    MUST    KEEP    IN    TOUCH    WITH 
CHARITABLE    INSTITUTIONS. 

The  Secretary  finds  a  mighty  resource  in  the  various 
charitable  institutions,  with  every  one  of  which  she 
nuist  keep  on  good  terms.  In  fact,  her  work  in  that 
respect  much  resembles  that  of  a  commission  merchant, 
as  she  moves  between  these  philanthropic  organiza- 
tions and  the  persons  whom  they  are  designed  to  re- 
lieve, but  who  would  many  times  remain  in  ignorance 
of  any  such  helpfulness  were  there  not  some  connect- 
ing link,  some  one  to  touch  the  spring  and  bring  the 
harmony    to    the    listening    ear. 

BEGINNING  AND  DEVELOPING  OF  ONE  OF  THE  NOBLEST  OF 
PROFESSIONS. 

The  first  Social  Secretary  was  introduced  to  the  In- 
dustrial world  less  than  three  years  ago.  That  de- 
velopment and  success  have  followed  so  rapidly  can 
only  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  world  had  been 
waiting  for  her.  If  the  founders  of  that  grand  in- 
stitution, the  League  for  Social  Service,  had  made 
but  this  one  suggestion,  their  names  would  have  passed 
on  in  history  in  the  list  of  those  who  had  achieved 
much  for  the  human  race.  Yet  we  have  made  but  a 
beginning,  it  is  as  impossible  to  predict  the  future  of 
one  of  the  noblest  professions,  thus  in  its  infancy,  as 
to  determine  definitely  the  character  of  the  fully  de- 
veloped man  from  an  acquaintance  with  the  child  of 


184  THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

three.  I  look  forward  to  the  time,  in  the  not  distant 
future,  of  this  I  am  certain,  when  we  shall  have  an 
international  convention  of  the  social  secretaries  of 
the  civilized  world.  Then,  working  together,  we  can 
look  toward  the  realization  of  complete  harmony  and 
sympathy  between  employers  and  employes.  I  am 
coming  to  believe  that  a  true,  unselfish  sympathy  is  the 
highest,  as  it  is  the  rarest,  of  human  virtues.  Not 
sympathy  for,  but  sympathy  zvith  and  in  the  inter- 
changeable interests  of  employer  and  employe,  of 
whatever  scope  or  degree. 

A   FAIR   CHANCE   WANTED,    NOT   PITY. 

Of  all  things,  our  workers  do  not  want,  even  less 
need,  pity.  All  they  ask  or  desire  is  the  opportunity 
to  develop  their  souls,  together  with  their  bodies,  and 
that  their  work  and  environment,  in  so  far  as  it  is  con- 
trolled by  others  (and  this  means  employers),  shall 
be  such  as  to  give  them  a  fair  chance. 

MUST   EDUCATE   THE    CHILDREN, 

If  our  children  must  be  at  factory  or  shop  for  ten 
hours  a  day,  is  it  asking  too  much  that  the  employer, 
who  puts  into  his  own  pocket  the  profits  of  that  labor, 
shall  give  to  each  child  one  hour  of  that  day,  in  the 
early  hours  before  his  vitality  has  become  exhausted 
and  his  brain  numbed,  providing  for  him  a  teacher, 
that  he  may  have  some  small  chance  to  grow  and  gain 
and  give? 


THE   INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  1 85 

We  have  our  evening  schools,  to  be  sure,  doing 
grand  and  noble  work,  but  how  many  of  us  ever  passed 
an  evening  in  one  of  them  and  failed  to  notice  the 
spirit  of  weariness  which  permeated  every  fibre  of 
this  small  piece  of  humanity. 

I  would  have  every  large  industrial  concern  in  the 
country,  where  children  are  employed,  provide  a  school 
where  these  same  children  may  be  taught  in  classes  for 
at  least  one  hour  each  day.  In  department  stores 
there  are  dull  hours  when  one-third  or  one-fourth  of 
the  children  might  well  be  spared  at  a  time.  And  not 
less  important  to  the  employer  is  the  reaction  which 
provides  him  with  more  intelligent,  more  eager  and 
more  interested  helpers.  A  few  have  already  adopted 
the  plan  and  find  the  benefits  accruing  are  tangible  and 
real. 

EVIL    RESULTS   FROM    HAVING    IGNORANT    MEN    IN    POSI- 
TIONS   OF    AUTHORITY. 

One  of  the  worst  evils  with  which  the  merchant  of 
to-day  has  to  contend  is  that  resulting  from  taking 
young  boys  into  the  establishment  who  grow  up  there, 
developing  good  business  ability  and  eventually  be- 
coming heads  of  departments,  but  who,  because  of 
lack  of  general  all-round  education,  have  not  devel- 
oped the  mental  or  moral  force  so  necessary  in  dealing 
with  employes.  We  all  know  the  effect  of  an  ignorant 
man  in  a  position  of  authority,  and  the  spirit  bred  in 


1 86  THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

employes  by  the  domineering  tyranny  of  such  a  one. 
He  fails  to  command  their  respect,  but  his  dictates 
they  must  obey,  just  or  unjust. 

The  head  of  a  business  seldom  knows  of  these  in- 
stances, and  in  too  many  cases  where  he  is  aware  of 
the  existing  conditions  'he  feels  that  he  must  ignore  the 
matter,  believing  that  in  no  other  way  can  this  par- 
ticular foreman  control  his  men,  and  not  willing  to 
lose  a  man  so  efficient  in  other  respects. 

Conditions  and  environment  vary  widely  in  many 
shops  as  respects  men  and  women.  Men,  in  their 
broader  experience  of  life,  have  developed  an  inde- 
pendence which  refuses  to  submit  to  that  which  wo- 
men will  endure  in  silence,  fearing  that  any  com- 
plaint will  be  met  with  discharge. 

KEYNOTE    OF    THE    FACTORY    BELL. 

For  the  keynote  which  is  being  struck  on  every 
factory  bell  in  this  country  to-day,  we  have  to  go  back 
to  the  earUest  recorded  history  of  our  race.  Cain 
asked,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  and  now,  after 
all  of  these  centuries,  the  same  word  is  being  spoken, 
but  in  a  diflferent  tone.  At  the  beginning  of  the  world's 
history,  it  spoke  defiance  only.  To-day  it  is  whispered 
with  bated  breath,  under  a  sense  of  responsibility 
which  hovers  like  a  heavy  cloud  over  the  race  of  an 
industrial  age  growing  in  knowledge  and  sunned  by 
prosperity. 

Do  you  call  humanitarianism  a  "fad?"  then  "blessed 


THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  187 

be  fads,"  for  when  you  can  make  social  betterment 
fashionable  you  have  won  half  the  battle.  For  years 
health,  cleanliness,  common  sense  and  decency  fought 
for  a  skirt  for  women  which  should  not  be  a  street 
scavenger,  but  not  until  Dame  Fashion  appeared  with 
her  bicycle  and  golf  links  did  Mrs.  Grundy  pay  the 
least  attention.  Fashion  is  an  arbitrary  mistress,  but 
like  a  dog,  it  is  better  to  have  her  good-will. 

The  employer  who  conducts  his  business  upon  the 
principles  of  humanitarianism  is  the  one  who  wins  the 
good-will  not  only  of  his  employes,  but  of  the  general 
public,  and  the  result  is  just  as  certain  as  is  the  law  of 
physics,  or  the  wisdom  of  King  Solomon:  "Cast  thy 
bread  upon  the  waters  and  after  many  days  it  shall 
return  unto  3'^ou." 

THE  SOCIAL  SECRETARY  RECEIVED  AS  A  FRIEND. 

The  Social  Secretar}'  has  at  least  one  important  ad- 
vantage over  the  representative  of  any  charitable  in- 
stitution. Her  work  in  some  respects  is  rather  that  of 
the  social  settlement  worker.  When  she  enters  a  home 
where  illness  or  distress  exists,  she  does  not  come  as 
a  stranger  and  does  not  meet  the  suspicion  she  other- 
wise might.  She  is  personally  known  to  at  least  one 
member  of  the  family  and  is  received  as  a  friend,  not 
as  a  "friendly  visitor."  Nor  is  she  compelled  to  ask 
disagreeable  questions.  She  already  knows  the  amount 
of  family  income,  and  whether  the  head  of  the  house 
is  intemperate,  etc. 


155  THE    INDUSTRIAL    SOCIAL   SECRETARY. 

What  the  parent  must  do  for  the  one  young  in  years 
the  Social  Secretary  finds  to  do  for  those  young  in  ex- 
perience, and  for  this  reason  the  social  secretaries  most 
sought  for  are  men  and  women  in  middle  life. 

THE    LABOR    PROBLEM     MUST    BE    SOLVED    BY    EDUCATED 
WORKERS. 

One  of  the  best  and  longest  steps  forward  in  recent 
years  is  the  work  of  the  social  settlement.  May  we 
not  go  one  step  farther?  Will  not  our  young  college 
trained  men  and  women  of  generous  hearts  and  broad 
sympathies  not  only  go  and  live  side  by  side  with 
those  whose  advantages  have  been  limited,  but  work 
side  by  side  with  them  as  well?  Let  them  go  into  the 
shops  and  factories,  and  while  earning  bread  in  the 
sweat  of  the  brow,  let  them  share  the  culture  which 
has  been  their  opportunity  with  their  co-laborers,  feel- 
ing not  that  the  education  they  have  received  is  wasted 
because  they  are  not  following  a  literary  profession, 
but  that  they  are  thus  enabled  to  make  the  highest  use 
of  their  trained  powers,  showing  by  example  the  true 
dignity  of  labor.  When  we  have  even  a  few  such 
workers  in  any  industrial  establishment  the  tyranny  of 
the  ignorant  foreman  will  cease — he  will  be  rooted  out 
as  weeds  from  a  garden  where  choice  flowers  have  been 
planted.  The  heartless  proprietor,  if  there  be  any  of 
that  class  left,  seeing  and  hearing  the  intelligent  de- 
mands and  criticisms  of  employes  of  broad  mind  and 
cultivated  spirit,  will  be  shamed  into  something  better. 


THE    INDUSTRIAL   SOCIAL   SECRETARY.  189 

Such  men  and  women,  borne  onward  by  the  courage 
of  conviction,  and  conversant  with  the  requirements  of 
the  age  for  progress  in  civiHzation,  can  do  more  to 
bring  about  a  fair  adjustment  of  the  relations  of  capi- 
tal and  labor  than  can  any  other  agency  yet  known  to 
man. 

It  may  not  be  pleasant  to  work  at  manual  labor  for 
ten  hours  a  day,  but  when  we  have  this  class  of  men 
and  women  actually  living  under  these  conditions,  as 
they  to-day  prevail  in  most  cities  of  our  fair  country, 
we  shall  be  much  nearer  the  millennium  than  we  are  at 
present. 


THE   ECONOMIC   EFFECTS   OF   THE   EIGHT 
HOURS    DAY. 


PROF.    FRANK   L.    MCVEY,    UNIVERSITY    OF    MINNESOTA. 


THE   ECUNO.MIC   EFFECTS   OF   THE   EIGHT 
HOURS     DAY. 


UV  I'RAXK  L.   MCVEY,  PROFESSOR  OF  I'OLITICAL   ECONOMY 
IX    THE    UNIVERSITY    OF    MINNESOTA,    MINNE- 
APOLIS. 


Ill  these  days  of  industrial  concentration  and  wealth 
getting,  the  impression  is  apt  to  prevail  that  the  whole 
industrial  machinery  is  organized  for  the  mere  sake  of 
production  and  the  profit  incidental  thereto.  Workers 
under  such  a  concept  arc  regarded  as  the  parts  of  a 
machine  system  instead  of  members  of  a  society.  But 
even  from  a  viewpoint  of  this  kind,  the  eight  hours 
day  in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  productive  power  of  the 
worker  becomes  a  question  of  great  importance.  When 
it  is  stated  that  the  future  culture  of  the  laborer  de- 
pends upon  this  movement,  that  poverty  is  to  be  driven 
from  the  industrial  world  and  industrial  depressions 
held  in  check,  every  one,  skeptical  or  otherwise,  must 
pause  to  listen  to  the  arguments  presented  for  such  a 
cause.  It  becomes  when  attached  to  the  philosophy  of 
trade-unionism  the  great  question,  the  most  important 
with  which  labor  has  to  deal. 

193 


194    ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 
INTRODUCTION    OF    MACHINERY     INCREASED    EXERTION. 

The  introduction  of  machinery  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century  with  the  attendant  high  cost  of  capital 
forced  longer  hours  of  labor  than  existed  under  the 
old  domestic  system.  Human  endurance  was  for  many 
years  the  sole  check  upon  a  day's  labor.  The  whole 
tendency  of  modern  industry,  even  with  the  shortening 
of  hours,  is  in  the  direction  of  increased  exertion.  The 
essential  element  in  the  machine  organization  is  the 
human  one,  the  most  pr<;cious  and  the  most  difficult 
to  replace.  The  energy  of  a  worker  in  any  industry 
should  always  be  equal  to  that  of  the  day  before.  If 
the  pains  of  labor  are  heavy  the  tone  of  the  workmen 
is  lowered  and  his  surplus  energy  disappears  while  he 
tends  to  become  a  mere  automaton  valuable  to  society 
for  the  net  surplus  he  creates  for  others.  The  round 
of  production  of  energy  into  goods,  goods  into  utilities 
and  utilities  into  energy,  is  broken  down  by  any  such 
heavy  burden.  We  must  therefore,  hail,  certainly  from 
the  viewpoint  of  the  community,  any  movement  likely 
to  increase  its  working  power.  Whether  the  eight 
hours  day  is  able  to  do  this  is  the  question  with  which 
we  must  deal  in  the  course  of  the  evening's  discussion. 

BEGINNING     OF     THE     EIGHT-HOUR      MOVEMENT — HOW 
DELAYED. 

The  eight  hours  day  is  not  a  new  question.  As  early 
as  1842,  and  still  earlier  in  England,  such  a  working 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    I95 

day  was  agitated,  but  so  far  in  advance  of  the  hours 
then  worked  was  the  demand,  that  Httle  attention  was 
paid  to  the  movement.  The  agitation  for  the  eight 
hours  day  has  been  materially  affected  by  historical  and 
industrial  events.  The  Civil  War  postponed  the  whole 
question  of  shorter  hours  for  several  years,  and  the 
movement  was  just  gathering  strength  when  the  panic 
of  1873  again  postponed  its  consideration.  In  the 
next  twenty  years  the  railroad  strikes  of  1877,  the 
industrial  depression  of  1883,  the  Haymarket  riot  of 
1886,  and  the  panic  of  1893  kept  the  question  in  the 
background ;  but  after  the  long  series  of  difficulties 
during  a  time  of  great  prosperity,  the  "Eight  Hours 
Day"  again  makes  its  appearance  for  serious  con- 
sideration. 

PHILOSOPHICAL    BASIS    OF    THE    MOVEMENT. 

The  basis  of  this  extraordinary  movement  is  a  philo- 
sophical one  strongly  stated  and  widely  believed.  It 
may  be  briefly  put  as  follows :  Economic  ills  come 
from  poverty,  poverty  in  turn  is  due  to  overproduction 
and  the  presence  of  the  unemployed  in  large  numbers 
in  society.  Society  can  be  relieved  from  this  burden  by 
larger  wages  and  shorter  hours  of  labor.  Shorter 
hours  in  turn  mean  an  increased  standard  of  living, 
wider  consumption  and  in  consequence,  a  larger  de- 
mand causing  the  creation  of  goods  at  a  lower  price 
and  the  continuous  employment  of  labor  in  order  to 
meet  the  demand  and  furnish  the  supply.     In  such  a 


196   ECONO'MIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

philosophy  the  standard  of  hving  is  governed  by  wants, 
and  wants  are  determined  by  the  social  opportunities 
of  the  masses.  All  of  this  can  be  accomplished  by 
reducing  the  hours  of  labor.  Wages  under  such  system, 
it  is  argued,  will  be  increased  in  two  ways ;  by  re- 
ducing enforced  idleness  and  by  creating  new  wants 
and  raising  the  standard  of  living. 

ARGUMENTS    BACK   OF   THE    PHILOSOPHY. 

The  arguments  back  of  the  philosophy  of  the  eight 
hours  day  may  be  grouped  under  the  three  heads  of 
economic,  social  and  human  necessities.  It  is  de- 
manded by  economic  necessity  for  the  reason  that  the 
modern  factory  can  turn  out  more  goods  than  are 
needed  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  people.  Machines 
and  inventions  are  continually  introduced  resulting  in 
no  higher  wages  for  the  worker  and  the  piling  up  of 
goods  for  which  there  is  no  market.  The  increased 
purchasing  power  of  his  wages,  may  be  lost  at  any 
time  by  the  competition  of  the  unemployed  who  tend  to 
force  the  employed  to  take  a  lower  remuneration.  The 
worker  is  thus  confronted  by  lower  wages  to  balance 
lower  prices. 

The  employer  too,  is  compelled  to  keep  in  the  pro- 
cession of  low  cost,  producing  cheaply  when  he  needs 
the  supply,  closing  his  mills  when  the  demand  falls 
and  his  supply  is  sufficient.  This  condition  of  affairs 
produces  the  unemployed.  It  is  the  presence  of  the 
unemployed  that  creates  the  social  necessity  for  the 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    I97 

eight-hours-day,  so  it  is  urged.  A  large  body  of  un- 
employed increases  the  burdens  of  society,  enlarges  the 
ranks  of  criminals  and  those  dependent  upon  charity. 
The  trade  unions  are  jeopardized  by  the  greater  diffi- 
culty of  keeping  up  their  organization  and  their  rates. 
Union  wages  fall,  demand  for  commodities  declines, 
the  weaker  concerns  fail  and  consolidation  of  interests 
results,  bringing  another  social  problem  for  solution. 

The  wear  and  tear  upon  human  life  steadily  increases 
under  modern  methods  of  production.  This  is  the 
third  reason  urged  for  the  adoption  of  the  eight  hours 
day.  If  men  are  to  stand  as  heads  of  families,  as 
electors,  and  even  as  operatives  of  machines  they  must 
have  time  for  rest,  for  education  and  for  family  life. 
The  responsibility  of  government  increasingly  falls 
upon  the  working  classes  in  a  democracy. 

Shorter  hours  of  labor  alone  can  give  the  worker 
the  leisure  for  the  careful  study  of  present  day  prob- 
lems, thrust  more  and  more  upon  the  electorate  for 
decision. 

A  SOCIALISTIC  VIEW. 

The  staunch  followers  of  trade  unionism  believe  that 
in  the  philosophy  just  enunciated  they  have  a  solution 
of  the  question  of  the  unemployed  and  consequent 
fluctuation  of  wages ;  but  to  this  the  great  socialist 
element  in  the  trade  union  movement  reply  that  the 
reduction  of  hours  is  a  necessary  feature  of  a  labor 
program,  but  that  it  is  unsatisfactory  and  reactionary 
12 


198    ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

as  a  substitute  for  the  socialist  program.  Nothing'  but 
the  latter  can  overcome  the  blighting  influence  of  over- 
production under  the  machine  regime  of  private  prop- 
erty. To  the  socialist  the  introduction  of  new  ma- 
chinery, higher  speeds  and  reorganization  will  always 
displace  more  workers  than  can  be  employed  by  a 
reduction  of  hours.  In  other  words,  to  them  the  eight 
hours  day  is  a  palliative,  not  a  solution  of  present  day 
evils.  To  this  the  reply  is  sometimes  made  if  eight 
hours  will  not  bring  the  desired  result  then  six,  cer- 
tainly four  hours  a  day  will  employ  those  out  of  work. 

EIGHT-HOUR  DAY   HINGES  ON   SOURCE  OF   WAGES. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  we  may  turn  to  a  careful 
examination  of  the  eight  hours  day  philosophy  and  the 
questions  kindred  to  it.  Fundamentally  there  can  be 
no  objections  to  the  desirability  of  the  eight  hours  day ; 
but  to  the  philosophy  and  basis  of  the  argument  very 
serious  objection  may  be  taken.  Under  the  eight  hours 
day  movement  is  an  abiding  belief  in  the  power  of  the 
standard  of  living,  to  increase  wages  and  that  demand 
for  commodities  constitutes  the  principal  employing 
force  of  labor.  From  this  point  of  view,  shorter  hours 
mean  increased  standard  of  living  and  wider  con- 
sumption, leading  to  a  larger  demand  for  commodities 
and  as  a  consequence  to  extended  employment  of 
workers.  But  want  and  demand  are  not  synonymous 
terms.  Want  does  not  develop  into  demand  unless 
accompanied  by  purchasing  power.     Hence  we  must 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    I99 

come  back  to  the  source  of  wages  upon  which  the 
whole  question  of  the  eight  hours  day  hinges.  The 
wage-earner  does  not  influence  the  market  and  pro- 
(hice  the  results  noted  in  the  philosophy  of  the  short 
hour  movement,  except  as  he  is  the  possessor  of 
material  things.  Undoubtedly  the  rate  of  wages  does 
depend  upon  the  demand  for  labor,  but  in  turn  the 
demand  for  labor  rests  upon  the  aggregate  capital  of 
the  communit}'  whicli  is  determined  by  the  gross  pro- 
duction and  the  demand  for  commodities,  while  the 
gross  production  is  governed  by  the  productivity  of 
labor.    Wages  are  thus  ultimately  paid  out  of  product,. 

A    MOST   DANGEROUS    FALLACY. 

Jn  this  statement  of  the  source  of  wages  it  will  be 
noted  that  the  demand  for  commodities  determines  the 
amount  of  capital  that  will  be  used  for  productive 
purposes,  but  in  no  sense  does  an  increase  of  wages 
rest  upon  the  sole  cost  of  subsistence.  Increased  wages 
as  well  as  reduction  of  hours  are  limited  by  the  pro- 
ducing power  of  labor.  Whether  the  laborer  gets  all 
he  is  entitled  to  does  not  materially  afifect  the  argu- 
ments advanced  for  the  eiglit  hours  day.  Employers 
will  pay  for  production  and  no  more.  It  is  a  most 
dangerous  fallacy  that  looks  upon  work  as  definite  in 
amount  that  must  be  done,  regardless  of  wages,  or 
number  to  be  employed.  Employment  must  rest  ulti- 
mately upon  the  amount  of  wealth  created ;  in  con- 
sequence the  eight  hours  day  question  resolves  itself 


200   ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

into  this  query,  Can  as  much  work  be  done  in  eight 
hours  as  in  ten?  It  is  evidently  presumed  in  the 
philosophy  of  the  movement  that  this  is  impossible 
since  a  great  army  of  the  unemployed  are  to  re-enter 
the  ranks  of  industry  when  such  a  day  is  secured. 

PROBLEM    OF  OVERTIME. 

As  a  means  of  solving  the  unemployed  problem  the 
eight  hours  day  has  no  value  except  as  it  abolishes 
overtime  and  all  its  kindred  evils.  The  phenomenon 
of  non-employment  is  due  in  large  measure  to  sick- 
ness, shiftlessness  of  individual  labors,  and  the  fluctu- 
ations of  commercial  credit  resulting  in  the  closing  of 
mills  and  the  discharge  of  workers.  Upon  the  first 
two  the  eight  hours  day  has  no  visible  effect,  upon  the 
third  by  abolishment  of  overtime  it  may  have  a  most 
important  bearing.  Employment  and  production 
would  be  rendered  more  stable  and  periods  of  non- 
employment  and  overtime  would  be  arranged  by  con- 
tinuous employment  of  the  worker.  Objection  to  over- 
time as  a  usual  thing  is  more  on  the  ground  of  the 
destruction  of  season  of  trades  and  the  failure  to  supply 
press  orders.  In  some  instances  the  abandonment  of 
overtime  would  not  materially  affect  the  season  of 
employment,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  press  orders 
may  not  be  anticipated  by  buyer  and  seller,  causing  a 
more  equitable  distribution  of  work  throughout  the 
year.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  urged  that  to  cut  the 
hours  of  the  day  will  give  greater  opportunities  for 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY,    20I 

overtime;  but  this  may  be  adequately  answered  by  the 
vote  of  trade  unions  upon  this  point ;  although  indi- 
vidually the  members  may  favor  such  practice,  in  the 
long  run  it  means  a  lowered  rate  and  a  contracted  area 
of  elnployment. 

EIGHT-HOUR    DAY    CANNOT    ABSORB    THE    UNEMPLOYED. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  advocates  of  this  movement 
favor  it  because  they  hope  the  blighting  competition 
of  the  unemployed  may  be  removed  by  the  reduction 
of  hours  of  labor.  Such  experience  as  has  been  had  in 
various  lands  where  the  eight  hours  day  has  been  in 
vogue  hardly  bears  out  the  hope  for  such  a  result. 

In  Victoria  the  unemployed  are  still  evident  in  great 
numbers,  the  organization  of  the  "New  Unionism"  in 
this  Australian  state  is  proof  of  the  inability  of  the 
eight  hours  day  to  absorb  those  out  of  work.  It  may 
be  boldly  stated  that  no  provision  such  as  the  one  under 
discussion  is  able  to  solve  the  difficulties  which  have 
their  root  in  the  whole  economic  basis  of  industry. 
Nevertheless  the  eight  hours  day  has  its  reward  and  is 
worth  seeking. 

HIGHER      INTELLIGENCE — BETTER      RESULTS. 

Not  then  as  a  means  of  employing  the  "reserve  army 
of  industry,"  as  the  unemployed  are  sometimes  called, 
is  the  eight  hours  day  to  be  advocated,  but  rather  as 
a  means  of  giving  to  men  a  wider  interest  in  life, 
the  possibility  of  greater  culture   and  the   surety  of 


202    ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

education  commensurate  with  the  problems  now  forced 
upon  our  democracy  for  a  solution.  It  is  not  then  as  a 
private  measure  that  this  movement  is  acceptable,  but 
as  a  public  necessity.  More  important  still  is  the  query, 
can  such  a  day  be  attained.  Remembering  that  wages 
depend  upon  the  productivity  of  labor,  it  remains  to 
be  seen  how  far  an  eight  hours  day  is  likely  to  impair 
production  and  in  consequence  injure  the  wealth  pro- 
ducing power  of  the  country.  Experience,  however, 
furnishes  an  answer,  for  in  many  manufacturing  plants 
it  has  been  shown  that  in  the  long  run  the  men  are 
able  to  produce  as  much  in  eight  as  in  ten  hours,  while 
the  proprietors  add  such  eloquent  testimonials  as  "less 
drunkenness,"  "greater  regularity  of  attendance,"  and 
"better  class  of  men  at  work."  If  the  eight  hours  dav 
is  productive  of  higher  intelligence  it  must  bring 
better  results. 

In  the  English  coal  mines  the  eight  hours  day  has 
been  the  rule  for  some  years  with  no  special  diminution 
in  the  output.  This  mysterious  result,  defiant  of  the 
"rule  of  three"  is  due  to  the  power  of  greater  intensity 
of  work  during  a  shorter  time ;  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  the  energy  of  the  worker  has  not  decreased  from 
day  to  day  from  the  long  hoiu's  of  labor. 

HOURS   AKKKCTIvl)    ]'.V   OCCUPATIONS. 

In  the  various  occupations  where  no  products  are 
created,  but  exchange  alone  carried  on,  there  is  no 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    203 

reason  why  trade  might  not  be  confined  to  shorter 
hours  than  at  present.  The  fear  of  loss  of  custom  and 
the  resultant  advantage  to  a  neighboring  merchant 
keep  men  from  cutting  down  the  hours  of  clerks.  In 
reality  there  is  no  reason  why  buyers  could  not  easily 
conform  their  purchases  to  the  hours  set  by  the  eight 
hours  day.  But  in  the  railway  and  street  car  service 
the  public  demands  trains  and  cars  at  all  times.  The 
eight  hours  day  in  such  instances  would  mean  increased 
expense  of  operation,  but  the  public  would  get  a  better 
service  by  the  use  of  two  shifts  of  men  in  the  case  of 
street  railways  than  at  the  present  time.  More  than 
that  the  general  adoption  of  eight  hours  would  confine 
travel  to  more  limited  time,  reducing,  comparatively, 
the  expense  over  the  present  lack  of  concentrated 
travel.  The  present  system  keeps  men  at  work  for 
long  hours,  endangering  the  traveling  public  by  pos- 
sible carelessness,  due  to  sleepliness  and  fatigue.  On 
the  railroad  systems  even  worse  conditions  prevail,  but 
with  much  better  excuse.  The  state  has  from  time  to 
time  attempted  to  interfere,  but  without  any  marked 
success.  The  eight  hours  day  is  possible  in  many 
divisions  of  railroad  work  and  when  attainable  should 
be  insisted  upon  by  the  public  for  its  own  protection. 
The  interests  of  the  individual  and  the  community 
are  by  no  means  identical  in  the  establishment  of  the 
eight  hours  day.  The  community  desires  the  highest 
good  and  greatest  energies  of  its  workers  through  long 


204   ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

periods  of  time.  This  can  be  accomplished  in  most  in- 
dustries without  any  accompanying  loss  of  productive 
power,  by  shorter  hours  of  work,  as  has  been  proven  in 
the  experience  of  many  industries.  On  the  other  hand 
in  specific  instances  and  in  the  operation  of  railroads 
and  street  cars,  the  shorter  hour  day  will  increase  ex- 
pense of  operation  considerably,  though  not  by  any 
very  large  percentage.  In  some  industries  where  labor 
is  not  employed  continuously,  but  periodically  and 
gathered  from  any  and  all  sources,  the  employer  finds 
it  to  his  advantage  to  push  the  hours  of  work  to  the 
longest  possible  limit.  Human  energies  can  stand  a 
pace  of  this  kind  for  a  time,  and  as  the  employer  does 
not  worry  about  a  future  supply  of  workers  he  expects 
to  win  an  increased  profit  by  such  a  policy.  These  in- 
dustries have  come  to  be  called  paraaftic.  The  eight 
hours  day  would  mean  the  death  of  the  sweating 
system  and  of  such  industries  as  are  dependent  upon 
excessive  hours. 

EFFECT  OF  PARTIAL  ADOPTION. 

The  variation  with  which  this  movement  may  be  in- 
troduced will  have  much  to  do  with  the  economic 
effects  resulting  from  it.  If  universally  adopted  there 
will  be  one  result,  if  by  industries  another,  and  if  in  one 
district  and  not  another  still  others.  It  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  general  adoption  of  the  eight  hours  day  is 
virtually  impossible  whether  forced  by  legislative  action 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    205 

or  trade-union  ukase.  Some  industries  will  be  slower 
than  others  in  the  adoption  of  the  measure,  but  it  may 
be  taken  for  granted  that  the  movement  of  the  best 
laborers  will  be  from  the  ten  and  eleven  hours  district, 
to  the  section  where  the  eight  hours  day  is  the  rule. 
In  the  more  unskilled  trade  this  may  result  in  causing 
a  still  greater  dearth  of  workers  in  the  rural  districts, 
the  attraction  of  the  eight  hours  day  and  the  city  being 
too  much  for  the  laborers  in  the  agricultural  districts. 
This  would  tend  to  increase  the  ranks  of  the  union  un- 
employed in  the  larger  cities. 

EIGHT-HOUR    DAY    AND   FOREIGN    TRADE, 

Perhaps  the  one  great  bugbear  in  reference  to  this 
movement  is  found  in  the  fear  that  exports  will  decline 
in  amount,  affecting  the  foreign  trade  of  the  nation. 
In  contrast  to  this  position  is  the  repeated  statement 
that  the  long  hours  of  foreign  workers  assist  materially 
in  checking  their  competition  with  us.  That,  how- 
ever, was  in  the  days  when  ten  hours  work  was  the 
rule.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  these  nations  have 
materially  reduced  their  hours  of  labor  and  are  fast 
approaching  our  standard  of  factory  sanitation  and 
direction.  In  the  words  of  another,  "high  wages,  short 
hours,  and  the  resulting  mental  and  physical  develop- 
ment, facilitate  the  introduction  of  more  effective 
methods,  and  thus  reduce  the  cost  of  production." 
There  must  be  a  limit  to  which  the  principle  of  short 


206    FXONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

hours  can  be  pushed,  but  undoubtedly  the  eight  hours 
day  is  within  the  hmit,  as  is  evidenced  in  the  successful 
mercantile  position  of  England  where  the  eight  hours 
day  has  been  in  vogue  for  a  number  of  years. 

Nevertheless,  the  eight  hours  day  must  cost  some- 
body something  in  loss  of  profit,  greater  exertion  in  a 
short  period  of  time,  or  smaller  wages.  If,  however, 
wages  are  maintained  and  the  productivity  is  kept  up 
it  must  be  by  the  increased  speed  of  machinery,  the  use 
of  poorer  material,  and  finally  by  the  substitution  of 
machines  for  laborers.  The  greater  uniformity  of  pro- 
duction of  new  inventions  and  new  methods  ought  to 
prevent  any  loss  to  profits.  But  is  such  a  diminution 
does  actually  occur  the  loss  will  fall  upon  interest  since 
the  wages  of  the  superintendence  and  insurance  against 
risk  cannot  be  affected.  If  there  is  a  lower  rate  upon 
interest  due  to  the  eight  hours  day  is  capital  likely  to 
migrate  and  savings  fall  in  amount?  To  this  it  may 
be  replied  that  the  increasing  amount  of  capital  "in 
other  lands  seeking  investment"  indicates  the  impossi- 
bility of  any  larger  amounts  leaving  this  country. 

ECONQiMIC  RESULTS. 

What  then  are  the  economic  affects  of  the  eight- 
hours  day?  It  is  first  of  all  difficult  to  predict  what 
would  be  the  actual  effects  upon  the  product  of  labor, 
but  the  evidence  is  sufficient  to  maintain  the  belief  that 
there  would  be  no  material  reduction  in  output.     Un- 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGPIT  HOURS  DAY.    20/ 

doubtedly  individual  firms  might  suffer  in  the  transi- 
tion, but  the  newer  methods  and  better  adapted  labor- 
ers would  more  than  make  up  for  this  difficulty.  In  the 
retail  and  clerical  occupations  nothing  but  good  would 
tesult  from  such  a  day,  while  some  added  cost  of 
operation  would  be  incurred  in  the  case  of  street  rail- 
way and  transportation  companies.  Even  this  burden 
would  be  lightened  by  increased  travel  within  shorter 
hours.  In  some  instances  the  industry  would  be  de- 
stroyed, it  no  longer  being  worth  while  to  produce 
goods  in  the  old  way.  In  a  few  industries  wages  would 
drop,  but  in  most  of  them  no  material  change  would 
occur.  In  some  respect  the  foreign  trade  of  the  coun- 
try would  be  changed,  but  not  in  the  aggregate,  while 
the  permanent  results  are  likely  to  be  a  lowered  rate 
of  interest,  a  more  intelligent  body  of  workers  and  a 
higher  taste  in  buying,  resulting  in  many  changes  in 
demand. 

A    DANGER    TO    THE    MOVEMENT. 

It  is  possible  for  trade  unions  in  a  few  industries  to 
secure  the  eight  hour  day,  with  restrictions  upon  the 
productivity  of  the  laborer,  but  in  every  such  case 
where  production  is  limited  society  pays  the  wages  for 
a  smaller  product  than  before.  Once  adopted  as  a 
general  measure,  any  attempt  to  restrict  the  product 
must  result  in  a  lower  wage  for  all  workers  except  in 
so  far  as  they  are  able  to  force  the  profit  and  interest 
receivers  to  maintain  the  decline  in  production.     But 


208   ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY. 

even  this  cannot  long  be  the  rule.  The  danger  to  the 
eight  hours  movement  is  the  possible  attempt  to  restrict 
production. 

HOW    THE    EIGHT-HOUR    DAY    SHOULD    BE    ESTABLISHED. 

One  more  question  remains  to  be  considered,  and 
that  is  the  best  way  to  secure  the  shorter  day.  Three 
methods  are  open  to  the  advocates  of  shorter  hours, 
legislative  statute,  trade-union  action  and  voluntary 
act  of  employers.  Any  bill  providing  for  shorter  hours 
must  be  strictly  mandatory  and  making  no  exceptions, 
the  conditions  of  overtime  must  be  defined  and  the 
law  rigidly  enforced.  Its  constitutionality  virtually 
limits  such  action  to  public  works  and  to  contract 
factories.  Shorter  hours  by  legislation  serves  as  an 
example  on  the  part  of  the  state  or  federal  authorities, 
but  where  attained  outside  of  government  circles,  by 
legislation,  the  trade-unions  are  often  not  strong 
enough  to  maintain  the  hours  at  the  old  wages.  The 
shorter  hours  days  can  only  be  an  abiding  possession 
(where  not  granted  by  the  voluntary  action  of  the 
employers)  when  maintained  by  public  opinion  and 
strong  trade-union  organization.  It  would  be  far  bet- 
ter, however,  if  the  shorter  day  could  be  secured  gradu- 
ally through  the  voluntary  act  of  employers.  The 
eight  hours  day  attained  in  this  way  is  a  reasonable 
request  that  from  the  point  of  view  of  selfish  interest 
employers  would  do  well  to  grant.  Give  labor  a  gen- 
eration more  in  the  organization  of  the  workers  and 


ECONOMIC  EFFECTS  OF  THE  EIGHT  HOURS  DAY.    209 

great  changes  will  be  wrought  that  will  produce  marked 
results  in  the  ownership,  direction  and  management  of 
industry.  Reasonable  requests  granted  now  will  make 
the  transition  less  difficult  and  severe. 

The  eight  hours  day  will  secure  larger  contentment 
and  cheerfulness  for  the  working  people  of  the  world. 
The  economic  value  of  this  gift  is  yet  to  be  appreciated, 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  great  productive  power 
when  applied  to  industry.  Under  its  influences  the 
old  rate  of  daily  production  will  be  maintained  and 
little  or  no  change  will  result  in  the  long  run  in  the 
effects  upon  wages,  profits,  the  unemployed  and  foreign 
commerce. 


ARBITRATION  FRO'M  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW^ 
OF   AN    ARBITRATOR. 


FREDERICK    W.    JOB,    CHAIRMAN    ILLINOIS    STATE    BOARD 
OF    ARBITRATION. 


ARBITRATION  FROM  THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 
OF  AN  ARBITRATOR. 


BY     FREDERICK     W.     JOB,     CHAIRMAN,     ILLINOIS     STATE 
BOARD   OF    ARBITRATION,    CHICAGO. 


When  I  was  visited  some  weeks  ago  by  the  secre- 
tary of  the  organizations  of  the  citizens  of  Minneapo- 
hs  and  of  the  Eight  Hour  League,  under  whose 
auspices  this  meeting  is  now  being  held,  and  was  in- 
formed that  a  national  convention  of  employers  and 
employes  was  to  be  held  in  this  city  at  this  time,  and 
was  told  of  the  objects  of  the  same,  the  subjects  to  be 
discussed,  etc.,  I  was  very  much  impressed  with 
the  idea ;  and  the  benefits  both  to  labor  and  to  em- 
ployers which  will  result  from  such  a  conference  deeply 
impressed  me,  and  were  vividly  before  me.  The  object 
of  such  a  convention  as  this  is  in  my  opinion  a  most 
praiseworthy  one,  and  most  certain  to  produce  bene- 
ficial and  lasting  results  to  both  employers  and  em- 
ployes throughout  this  broad  land.  The  good  results 
of  the  same  appeared  the  more  important  and  likely  to 
me,  from  the  very  fact  that  as  chairman  of  the  Board 
of  Arbitration  of  the   State  of  Illinois  I  have  in  the 

213 


214   ARBITRATION ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

past  suggested  and  attended,  and  in  fact  our  board 
has  held  on  a  smaller  scale  a  great  number  of  just 

CONFERENCES   BETWEEN   EMPLOYERS  AND   EMPLOYES   IN 
ILLINOIS. 

such  conventions  as  we  are  holding  here  now.  The 
small  conventions  I  refer  to  have  in  the  past  been  the 
result  of  and  followed  closely  upon  the  heels  of  labor 
disturbances  in  Illinois,  and  have  been  popularly  des- 
ignated as  cases  of  arbitration  and  settlements  of  labor 
troubles  conducted  by  our  board.  Our  meetings  here 
this  week  are  in  fact  much  like  these  conventions  in 
Illinois,  which  were  merely  conferences  between  em- 
ployers and  employes,  and  differed  from  the  present 
convention  only  in  the  two  elements  of,  first,  being  a 
conference  before  trouble  ensues,  and,  second,  being 
a  conference  between  an  employer  and  his  employes  in 
Illinois  in  a  specific  case ;  and  I  assure  you  some  of 
our  Illinois  conferences  greatly  resembled  conventions, 
and  had  the  decided  ear-marks  of  conventions,  even 
to  the  extent  of  having  the  excitement  and  wrangling, 
and  decided  uncertainty  of  even  a  national  political 
convention.  At  these  conferences  of  employer,  em- 
ployes and  our  board,  T  have  always  wondered  why  it 
was  that  employers  and  employes  did  not  get  together 
the  way  we  did  then,  and  as  we  are  doing  here  now, 
before  the  trouble  broke  out,  instead  of  waiting  until 
a  strike  or  lockout  occurred  and  thereby  entailing  loss 
■\\\<\   sufifering  upon   both    employe  and   employer.     I 


ARBITRATION ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW.    215 

have  made  quite  a  study  since  my  appointment  as  a 
member  of  the  State  Board  of  Arbitration  of  the  sub- 
jects or  arbitration,  conciHation  and  labor  troubles  in 
general,  why  they  existed ;  what  produced  them,  how 
to  avoid  them,  and  a  dozen  or  more  other  subjects 
which  they  suggest,  and  most  pronounced  in  my  mind 
of  all  these  suggested  questions  is  the  one  prominent 
question  of  why  in  many  cases  friendly  conferences 
have  not  been  held  between  the  employer  and  employe 
before  the  trouble  originated.  That  is  the  one  par- 
ticular question  which  has  interested  and  disturbed 
our  board,  and  upon  this  one  point  we  have  been  doing 
our  best  in  the  past  to  educate  the  workmen  and  em- 
ployers of  Illinois,  and  of  the  city  of  Chicago.  For 
I  want  to  emphasize,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  re- 
peated friendly  conferences  between  employers  and 
employes  can  no  more  mix  up  with  strikes  and  lock- 
outs than  can  oil  and  water  mix,  and  the  more  you 
have  of  the  friendly  conferences  the  less  there  are  sure 
to  be  of  labor  disturbances. 

CAUSE    OF    LOCKOUTS. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  causes  of  lockouts  comes 
from  the  fact  that  one  side  or  the  other  to  the  dis- 
turbance fails  to  recognize  the  fundamental  facts  of  the 
relation  which  they  bear  to  each  other,  which  is  that 
both  employer  and  employe  are  vitally  interested  in 
wages,  in  hours  and  in  conditions  of  labor,  and  if 
either  side  fails  to  so  recognize  and  be  guided  by  these 

13 


2l6   ARBITRATION ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

fundamental  principles,  trouble  ensues.  There  seems 
to  be  great  difficulty  in  getting  either  side  to  correctly 
view  the  relations  which  exist  from  the  viewpoint 
of  the  other,  and  neither  side  in  most  instances  cares 
to  go  to  the  trouble  to  explain  his  side  of  the  case 
thoroughly  and  intelligently  before  the  dispute  has 
assumed  a  serious  aspect.  The  employer  will  often 
fail  to  recognize  the  fact  that  with  his  growing  busi- 
ness, his  changed  conditions,  which  are  attendant  upon 
such  growth,  the  employment  of  new  foremen  and 
bosses,  the  actual  condition  of  the  laborers  should  re- 
ceive his  careful  attention,  and  fascinating  as  may 
be  that  part  of  his  business  which  relates  to  the  gen- 
eral supervision  of  the  same  and  its  growth  and  prog- 
ress, the  employer  nevertheless  too  often  makes  the 
mistake  of  not  getting  closer  to  his  men  and  vm- 
derstanding  their  situation  and  circumstances,  and 
these  mistakes  as  we  all  know  are  nearly  always  fol- 
lowed by  a  labor  disturbance. 

MISTAKES  OF  EMPLOYES. 

The  workman  on  the  other  hand  is  often  too  prone 
to  assume  that  increased  prices  and  a  larger  establish- 
ment, and  more  material  evidences  of  a  growing  in- 
stitution mean  that  all  this  growth  was  produced  ex- 
clusively as  the  result  of  his  toil.  He  makes  the  mis- 
take of  assuming  that  because  there  are  more  employes 
in  the  factory  than  formerly  the  management  or  owner 
of  the  business  has  forgotten  him,  and  that  he  car^'t 


ARBITR.\TION — ARBITRATORS    POINT    OF    VIEW.    21/ 

see  the  president  or  the  head  of  the  concern.  These 
very  facts  were  evidenced  to  a  pronounced  extent  in 
the  information  which  was  disclosed  at  the  conferences 
of  the  Chicago  stock  yards  packers  and  other  em- 
ployers of  teamsters  with  their  men,  under  the 
auspices  of  our  board,  in  Chicago,  in  June  and  July, 
1902,  in  the  now  celebrated  strikes  of  the  thousands  of 
employes  which  at  that  time  paralyzed  the  business 
of  the  city. 

I  say  it  is  with  particularly  great  pleasure  that  I 
am  permitted  the  honor  of  saying  at  this  convention 
that  the  very  object  of  the  convention,  which  I  take 
to  be  the  solution,  or  at  least  the  explanation  of  some 
of  the  features  of  industrial  disturbances,  this  very 
object  is  a  most  praiseworthy  one,  and  this  convention 
is,  if  I  mistake  not,  most  likely  to  bring  these  important 
matters  before  the  public  in  a  clear  and  unbiased  man- 
ner. Arbitration  and  conciliation  are  indeed  des- 
tined to  take  the  place  of  force  on  the  one  hand  and 
idleness  on  the  other ;  one  or  both  of  which  inevitably 
and  unfortunately  follow  in  the  wake  of  a  lockout  or 
strike. 

Ehiring  the  year  and  a  half  of  its  existence,  the 
State  Board  of  Arbitration  of  the  state  of  Illinois  has 
fortunately,  or  perhaps  unfortunately,  been,  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  thrown  upon  the  center  of  the  stage  in 
matters  industrial,  and  has  met,  grappled  with  and 
partially  solved  some  of  the  problems  which  have 
presented  themselves  in  industrial  disturbances  in  our 
state  within  the  life  of  the  present  board. 


2l8   ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

Our  board  is  constantly  confronted  with  men  and 
organizations  on  both  sides  of  labor  troubles  who  say, 
as  did  Jefferson  Davis,  at  the  Confederate  Congress  in 
1861,  that,  "All  we  want  is  to  be  let  alone."  That  is 
a  very  beautiful  theory ;  an  expression  which  sounds 
well,  and  in  many  cases  is  a  direct  invitation  to  our 
board  to  mind  its  own  business,  but  while  this  invita- 
tion would  be  pertinent  in  most  cases,  we  don't  believe 
that  it  applies  to  us,  because  our  business  is  for  the 
most  part  attending  to  other  people's  business,  and  we 
don't  believe  that  people  who  are  having  a  fight  in 
which  the  public  is  concerned  (and  I  might  add  that 
the  public  is  concerned  in  every  strike),  and  in  which 
the  public  is  getting  about  as  many  blows  as  either 
of  the  lighters,  have  any  right  to  say  they  want  to  be  let 
alone,  or  if  they  do  say  so,  should  be  let  alone.  We 
believe  that  if  they  cannot  settle  their  own  fight  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  public,  or  the  servants  of  the  public, 
to  try  and  settle  it  for  them,  and  this  is  what  our  board 
has  been  doing.  We  believe  that  if  the  state  and  its 
people  are  to  be  the  sufferers  through  an  industrial 
disturbance,  and  if  the  state  is  finally  to  be  compelled 
to  go  to  a  great  expense  to  look  after  itself,  and  be 
seriously  inconvenienced  when  the  disturbance  be- 
comes more  violent,  that  it  also  has  the  right  to  look 
into  such  a  case  before  it  reaches  a  violent  stage,  and 
is  justified  in  making  the  demand  that  the  rights  of 
third  parties,  such  as  the  public,  be  protected. 

Realizing  early  in  the  life  of  our  board  that  there 


ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OP   VIEW.   2ig 

was  one  thing  above  all  other  things  which  even  a 
state  board  of  arbitration  could  not  survive,  we  de- 
cided at  the  outset  and  at  the  first  meeting  of  our 
board  that  politics  would  not  be  permitted  to  dominate 
it,  or  have  in  fact,  anything  to  do  with  it.  With  a  by- 
partisan  board  and  a  non-political  board  we  set  to 
work  something  over  a  year  ago  to  get  at  the  subject 
of  labor  troubles  in  IlHnois,  and  to  contribute  our  as- 
sistance to  the  solution  of  the  same.  We  found  in  a 
great  many  instances  that  arbitration  boards  had  in  the 
past  in  many  states  been  regarded,  though  unjustly,  as 
merely  political  creations,  and  we  devoted  ourselves 
diligently  to  overcoming  this  prejudice  among  both 
employers  and  employes. 

It  was  made  manifest  to  us  that  everybody  was  in 
favor  of  arbitration,  except  that  everybody  wanted  to 
arbitrate  everybody's  else  case  of  strike  or  lockout,  but 
his  own,  and  in  his  own  case  he  was  inclined  to  think, 
whether  employer  or  employe,  that  he  was  entirely  in 
the  right,  and  there  wasn't  anything  to  arbitrate. 

We  found  too  many  times  that  in  the  case  of  strikes 
the  matter  of  getting  together  by  conciliation  and  arbi- 
tration had  been  postponed  again  and  again  in  the 
hope  of  each  party  gaining  an  unqualified  victory,  and 
the  strike  or  lockout  would  in  the  meantime  grow 
fiercer  and  fiercer,  until  it  was  like  the  case  of  a 
drunken  man  whom  I  heard  of  the  other  day,  who 
was  found  by  an  eminent  Catholic  divine  of  Chicago, 
sitting  on  the  steps  of  his  church.     The  holy  father, 


220   ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

who  is  a  well  known  man,  and  a  great  worker  in  the 
church,  began  to  reason  with  the  man,  and  tried  to  in- 
duce him  to  join  the  church,  or  at  least  to  go  into 
the  church,  and  after  talking  with  him  on  the  subject 
for  a  few  moments  the  fellow  raised  his  head  and  said : 
"Well,  father,  I  have  just  been  thinking  of  joining 
your  church,  but  the  longer  I  think  about  it  the  sicker 
I  feel."  And  that  is  the  way  it  was  in  too  many  labor 
troubles  in  Illinois,  they  were  all  sitting  around  and 
thinking  about  getting  together,  but  the  longer  they 
thought  of  it  the  sicker  they  got,  and  the  fiercer  the 
fight  became,  and  the  less  getting  together  was  ac- 
complished. We  finally  concluded  that  getting  peo- 
ple together  in  the  matter  of  conciliation  and  arbitra- 
tion was  like  handling  a  rope,  it  could  be  pulled  very 
easily,  but  could  not  be  pushed  an  inch.  We  found 
that  by  persuasion  and  friendly  conferences  much 
could  be  accomplished,  and  so  we  got  busy  in  that 
direction. 

We  learned  early  in  the  game,  too,  that  just  as  an 
ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure,  so  too, 
is  one  hour's  conference  after  a  strike  worth  ten  days 
of  a  strike  or  a  lockout,  or  a  continued  labor  trouble. 
We  found  among  other  things  that  neither  side  ever 
wanted  to  pose  or  be  considered  as  the  party  which  had 
suggested  the  meeting  of  the  participants  in  the  strike. 
Accordingly  we  originated  a  system  of  what  might  be 
called  "butting  in"  to  labor  troubles,  and  of  framing 
and  delivering  what  we  regard  as  a  tempting  invita- 


ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OF    VIEW.    221 

tion,  to  conferences,  which  we  soon  found  was  effect- 
ing results.  With  these  principles  in  mind  we  coupled 
with  our  invitations  to  combatants  the  guarantees. 

SUGGESTIONS  TO  BOTH   SIDES. 

First,  that  a  conference  with  each  other  and  with  our 
board  would  do  them  no  harm,  if  it  did  them  no  good, 
and  would  at  least  leave  them  where  we  found  them,  if 
it  did  not  settle  the  trouble. 

Second,  that  our  board  could  be  relied  upon  to  not 
carry  tales  from  one  side  to  another.  We  realized  that 
we  knew  that  no  trouble  was  ever  settled  by  the  media- 
tor or  peacemeaker  who  carries  stories  from  one  side 
to  the  other. 

Just  one  other  suggestion  to  parties  in  conflict,  and 
the  work  of  getting  them  together  was  more  than  half 
accomplished. 

This  other,  and  third  point  was  that  it  would  not 
cost  the  contestants  a  single  cent ;  that  the  state  paid 
the  bills.  This  makes  quite  a  difference  to  people  in 
Chicago,  although  it  might  be  otherwise  in  the  boom- 
ing city  of  Minneapolis.  In  this  way  we  secured  the 
confidence  of  the  parties  to  the  strife,  nor  has  that 
confidence  in  any  single  instance  ever  been  betrayed 
by  us. 

EARLY    NOTICE   OF   TROUBLE  ESSENTIAL. 

We  find  that  when  we  have  reached  the  point  where 
we  can  get  the  employer  and  his  employes  to  agree 


222   ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

to  meet  and  reason  together  that  they  are  always  well 
on  the  road  to  reconciliation. 

Briefly,  what  I  have  said  is  what  we  have  outlined 
in  most  cases  where  trouble  was  on  hand,  and  the  same 
was  brought  to  our  attention,  and  to  show  that  we  as  a 
board  were  truly  people  who  not  only  took  care  of  all 
trouble  which  came  in  our  way,  but  went  out  and 
hunted  it,  we  sent  out  notices  to  all  the  mayors  of 
cities,  and  presidents  of  village  boards  throughout  the 
state,  calling  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  law  of 
Illinois  provides  that  our  board  shall  be  notified  when- 
ever any  labor  trouble  is  threatened  or  is  in  actual 
progress.  The  desire  of  the  executive  officials  of  the 
cities  and  villages  throughout  the  state  to  have  no  labor 
troubles  in  their  communities  has  been  a  very  potent 
factor  in  getting  these  mayors  and  presidents  of  vil- 
lage boards  to  send  in  prompt  notices  of  such  troubles, 
and  in  many  instances  the  popularity  of  these  same 
officials  has  been  greatly  increased  through  their  dili- 
gence in  having  our  board  come  to  their  towns  and  help 

SUCCESSFUL  ARBITRATION    WORK. 

settle  these  troubles.  With  an  average  of  one  strike 
a  day  in  the  state  of  Illinois  for  every  working  day 
in  the  year,  and  with  the  varied  and  complicated  indus- 
tries throughout  the  state,  and  the  large  area  of  the 
same,  I  can  assure  you  that  our  board  has  about  all 
to  do  that  three  men  can  attend  to.  As  one  of  the 
members  of  our  board  aptly   cxprcssetl   it  the  other 


ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW.    223 

day,  we  started  in  to  raise  a  crop  of  arbi- 
tration and  conciliation  cases  and  we  have 
got  an  over-production.  We  have  in  the  past 
grappled,  and  I  am  happy  to  say  in  a  large  ma- 
jority of  cases  successfully,  with  a  larger  number  of 
cases  of  labor  troubles  than  any  other  board  that  has 
ever  preceded  us  in  our  state,  and  the  end  is  not  yet. 
We  have  settled  strikes  among  boys,  girls,  men  and 
women,  of  all  colors  and  nationalities,  and  involving 
all  sorts  of  contentions  and  principles,  but  by  far  the 
most  common  source  of  our  trouble  is  the  question  of 
the  recognition  of  the  union,  and  this  brings  me  to  the 
subject  of  why  in  my  opinion  there  are  so  many  strikes 

WHY    THERE    ARE    SO    MANY    STRIKES    AT   THE    PRESENT 
TIME. 

at  the  present  time.  There  can  be  no  question  but  that 
just  as  unions  were  the  forerunners  and  the  patterns 
set  for  the  formation  of  the  so-called  trusts  and  com- 
binations of  interests,  so  too  by  a  curious  turning  of  the 
tables  has  the  child  become  father  to  the  man,  so  to 
speak,  and  the  workingmen  throughout  the  country 
seeing  the  vast  numbers  of  combinations  of  business  in- 
terests, have  formed  unions  among  themselves.  But 
this,  while  a  potent  factor  in  the  matter  of  forming 
unions,  has  not  been  the  principal  one.  From  my 
humble  point  of  view  I  believe  the  recent  advance 
in  the  cost  of  living  and  of  the  commodities  used  by 
laboring  men,  which  I  think  can  be  put  conservatively 


224   ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

at  from  thirty  to  forty  per  cent,  during  the  past  year 
or  eighteen  months,  and  the  unusual  prosperity  of  the 
country,  which  has  made  the  manufacturer  too  busy 
in  many  instances  to  attend  to  the  question  of  what 
wages  his  employes  are  getting,  that  this  prosperity 
has  caused  many  of  the  recent  strikes  and  has  thus,  by 
a  paradoxical  situation  of  affairs,  become  the  one  cloud 
upon  the  sunshine  of  the  unusual  prosperity  through- 
out the  country.  In  nine  times  out  of  ten  when  I  have 
asked  the  laboring  man  whom  I  have  come  in  contact 
with  why  a  strike  or  labor  trouble  occurred,  I  have 
been  told  that  it  was  because  of  the  great  advance  of 
late  in  the  cost  of  living.  These  advances  in  prices 
have  resulted  in  men  forming  unions  for  the  better- 
ment of  their  conditions,  and  in  a  great  many  instances 
strikes  or  lockouts  have  followed. 

DEFECTS    IN    ORGANIZATION    OF    STATE   BOARDS    OF    ARBI- 
TRATION. 

Of  course  I  believe  that  the  State  Board  of  Arbitra- 
tion is,  or  should  be,  one  of  the  most  important  boards 
in  any  state,  and  I  have  gone  to  some  pains  to  make 
an  investigation  into  the  work  done  by  various  boards 
throughout  the  country,  with  the  most  surprisingly 
varying  results.  I  find  that  twenty-four  of  the  states 
of  our  union  have  boards  of  arbitration,  or  labor 
boards  which  exercise  the  functions  of  arbitration  and 
mediation.  In  most  of  the  states  the  salary  paid 
boards  of  arbitration  is  so  small  that  good  citizens  can- 


ARBITRATION — ARBITRATORS    POINT    OF    VIEW.    225 

not  be  induced  to  accept  the  position.  In  some  of  the 
states  there  is  no  provisions  for  the  enforcement  of 
the  award  made  by  the  board  of  arbitration.  From  one 
state  comes  the  information  that  a  judicial  decision 
has  interpreted  the  law  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make 
the  board  useless,  and  the  writer  adds :  "We  now 
stand  back  and  watch  them  fight  it  out  in  the  good  old- 
fashioned  way."  Your  own  state,  that  bright  par- 
ticular star  of  the  Northwest,  presents  the  anomalous 
situation  of  three  public  offices  of  the  board  of  arbi- 
tration remaining  vacant  and  unsolicited  for  the  past 
five  years.  It  appears  that  the  terms  of  office  of  the 
members  of  the  board  first  appointed  under  the  law 
expired  five  years  ago,  and  that  no  successors  have 
been  chosen  or  reappointed  by  the  governor.  Un- 
doubtedly the  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  inad- 
equacy of  the  compensation  provided  by  the  Minnesota 
law,  and  in  the  harrassments  and  difficulties  attending 
the  proper  discharge  of  the  functions  of  the  office,  for 
I  can  assure  you  that  the  efforts  of  the  peacemaker,  no 
matter  how  faithful  or  conscientious,  are  not  always 
awarded  with  gratitude  or  commendation. 

The  only  matter  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
board,  writes  the  former  president  of  the  board  in 
Minnesota,  was  a  joint  invitation  to  arbitrate  a  dis- 
pute between  the  printers  and  publishers  of  the  daily 
newspapers  at  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis.     The  matter 


226   ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

was  arbitrated,  and  the  decision  rendered,  which  I  be- 
lieve was  unsatisfactory  to  both  parties. 

LOCAL    BOARDS    OF    ARBITRATION     UNSATISFACTORY. 

In  a  good  many  states  this  law  provides  for  local 
arbitration  tribunals,  but  there  are  many  advantages 
to  be  found  in  a  State  Board  of  Arbitration  impossible 
of  attainment  by  a  local  board,  whose  authority  and 
existence  begins  and  end  with  a  single  case. 
In  our  experience  we  have  found  that  the 
existence  of  a  State  Board  of  Arbitration  is 
very  conducive  to  the  general  cause  of  arbi- 
tration, for  we  find  many  cases  where  people 
prefer  to  have  their  difference  settled  by  arbitrators 
who  have  had  practical  experience,  and  who  have  a 
knowledge,  or  the  time  to  acquire  knowledge,  of  the 
technicalities  of  a  particular  craft  or  occupation. 

AN    IMPORTANT    PROVISION    IN    THE    ILLINOIS    ARBITRA- 
TION  LAW. 

One  of  the  most  important  features  of  the  present 
Illinios  arbitration  law  is  that  which  is  covered  by 
an  amendment  prepared  by  the  present  board  and 
passed  by  our  last  legislature,  which  provides  that 
where  an  industrial  dispute  occurs  in  which  the  public 
is  affected,  with  reference  to  food,  fuel,  light  or  the 
means  of  communication  or  transportation,  or  in  any 
other  respect,  and  neither  party  to  such  a  strike  or  lock- 


ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR  S    POINT    OF    VIEW.    22^ 

out  shall  consent  to  submit  the  matter  in  controversy 
to  the  State  Board  of  Arbitration,  that  the  board 
after  having  first  attempted  to  afifect  a  settlement  by 
conciliation,  shall  proceed  of  its  own  motion  to  make 
an  investigation  of  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  such 
disturbance,  and  make  public  its  findings  with  such  rec- 
ommendations to  the  parties  involved  as  in  its  judg- 
ment will  contribute  to  a  fair  and  equitable  settlement 
of  the  differences  which  constitute  the  cause  of  the 
trouble,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  such  inquiry  the 
board  has  the  power  to  issue  subpoenas  and  compel 
the  attendance  and  testimony  of  witnesses,  as  in  other 
cases.  Prior  to  this  amendment  to  our  law  a  labor 
trouble  might  involve  all  the  people  of  a  particular 
community,  all  the  citizens  of  one  of  our  outlying 
suburbs,  such  as  South  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  (Mil- 
waukee, Wis.,  I  mean),  might  be  compelled  to 
walk  to  the  city  because  of  a  labor  trouble  on  traction 
lines  which  the  parties  thereto  would  refuse  to  submit 
to  us,  and  the  board  would  be  compelled  to  sit  with 
folded  hands  waiting  to  be  called  in.  Now,  however, 
it  is  different,  and  when  such  trouble  occurs,  our 
board  proceeds  to  investigate  it,  and  we  find  that  pub- 
lic opinion  invariably  brings  the  guilty  party  to  time. 
This  is  the  nearest  approach  to  compulsory  arbitra- 
tion found  in  any  of  the  laws  of  the  various  states  re- 
lating to  the  subject. 


228    ARBITRATION — ARBITRATOR'S    POINT    OF    VIEW. 

NO   SHORT   CUT   TO  THE  SOLUTION   OF   LABOR  TROUBLES. 

We  do  not  think  that  there  is  any  short  cut  to  the 
sohition  of  all  labor  troubles.  We  do  not  claim  to 
have  a  panacea  or  a  specific  or  a  patent  medicine  which 
will  fix  up  every  case.  We  do  not  believe  that  all 
cases  can  be  settled,  or  even  helped  by  our  board,  and 
we  specially  think  that  we  should  rid  ourselves  of 
false  hopes  for  an  industrial  paradise  on  earth,  which 
none  of  us  ever  can  or  ever  will  see.  We  believe 
that  theories  alone  cannot  solve  labor  troubles,  or 
accomplish  arbitration,  but  that  it  requires  work,  and 
lots  of  it,  and  hard  work  at  that,  and  that  we  must  all 
learn  our  lessons  v/ell  from  our  experience,  and  when 
we  have  learned  them  to  profit  by  them  and  to  teach 
the  other  fellow.     We  believe  that  conciliation  can  do 

CONCILIATION    MORE    POTENT    THAN    ARBITRATION. 

ten  times  as  much  as  formal  arbitration.  Conciliation, 
and  getting  people  together  to  talk  their  own  troubles 
over  will  in  almost  all  cases  accomplish  the  desired 
result.  A  formal  arbitration,  where  it  is  settled  not 
by  the  parties  to  the  controversy,  but  by  some  third 
party,  is  never  as  good  as  a  bargain  made  by  the  con- 
testants themselves,  but  this  same  formal  arbitration 
must  be  resorted  to  in  certain  cases,  and  it  surely  has 
a  function,  and  there  is  work  for  formal  arbitration. 
On  the  other  hand,  formal  arbitration  can  be  carried 
too  far,  for  if  every  time  a  little  trouble  comes  up  an 


ARBITRATION ARBITRATORS    POINT    OF    VIEW.    229 

arbitration  board  should  jump  in  and  make  a  formal 
hearing  it  would  do  more  harm  in  my  opinion  than  it 
would  do  good,  for  it  would  lead  both  employer  and 
employes  in  many  instances  to  produce  troubles  for 
the  sole  and  simple  reason  that  perhaps  a  board  of  ar- 
bitration, or  a  single  member  of  the  board,  might  help 
them  out  by  deciding  in  their  favor.  There  is  one 
thing  this  board  does  find,  however,  and  that  is  that 
a  great  many  employers  and  employes  who  formerly 
were  the  last  to  even  think  of  the  matter  of  concilia- 
tion and  arbitration  are  now  the  most  eager  to  take 
the  matter  up,  and,  in  fact,  are  clamoring  for  it. 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS, 

FROM  THE  STANDPOINT  OF  THE 

MANUFACTURER. 


BY    W.    D.    WIMAN,    VICE-PRESIDENT     JOHN    DEER    PLOW 
COMPANY^    MOLINE,    ILL. 


In  opening  a  discussion  of  the  responsibility  of  par- 
ties to  labor  contracts,  as  seen  from  the  standpoint  of 
a  manufacturer,  I  am  aware  that  the  time  at  my  dis- 
posal will  not  permit  of  more  than  a  passing  comment 
on  the  features  of  what  appears  to  be  the  greatest  exist- 
ing difficulty  in  the  way  of  a  satisfactory  settlement 
of  the  labor  question. 

A    BUSINESS    man's    STATEMENT. 

Making  no  pretentions  to  literary  or  oratorical  ex- 
cellence or  legal  learning,  I  can  only  make  a  plain 
statement  of  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  arrived 
from  a  study  of  the  relations  between  manufacturers 
and  their  employes  as  they  exist  to-day. 

Nor  do  I  desire  to  suggest  any  definite  solution  of 
the  problem.  A  trifle  slowly,  perhaps,  but  always 
surely,  the  American  citizen  has  proven  himself  equal 
to  emergencies  greater  than  this. 

14  ^31 


22)2  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

INNATE  SENSE  OF  FAIRNESS. 

When  both  sides  come  to  see  the  desirabihty  of  a 
mutuahty  of  remedy  as  well  as  a  mutuality  of  agree- 
ment in  all  contracts  by  which  the  one  party  agrees 
to  furnish  employment  to  the  other  at  a  stipulated 
wage,  and  to  pay  him  regularly  for  it,  and  the  other 
party  undertakes  to  render  services  for  a  definite 
period  of  time,  the  innate  sense  of  fairness  of  the 
American  people  will  devise  and  demand  some  plan 
by  which  one  contracting  party  will  be  equally  bound 
with  the  other. 

MORAL    RESPO'NSIBILITY    OF    ORGANIZED    LABOR. 

The  past  few  decades  have  witnessed  startling 
changes  in  the  relations  between  manufacturer  and 
mechanic.  The  drift  of  economic  conditions  has  been 
toward  combination  in  labor  as  well  as  in  capital.  It  is 
not  my  purpose  to  discuss  either  the  wisdom  or  policy 
of  this  tendency  toward  aggregation  of  labor  on  the 
one  hand  and  of  capital  on  the  other.  The  effect  is 
apparent  to  all  of  you.  Instead  of  the  disorganized 
mass  of  laborers  of  a  few  years  ago,  dealing  with 
their  employers  individually,  employed  at  no  uniform 
scale  of  compensation,  adjusting  their  disputes  with- 
out the  intervention  of  outside  parties,  we  now  have 
each  trade  or  craft  thoroughly  organized,  with  its  cap- 
tains of  tens,  of  hundreds  and  of  thousands,  the  heads 
of  the  organization  agreeing  for  the  constituent  mem- 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  233 

bers  thereof,  the  individual  laborer  acting  by  power 
of  attorney  or  agent,  so  to  speak,  and  the  manufac- 
turer dealing  in  most  cases  with  not  the  men  directly 
but  their  agents.  These  organizations  for  the  most 
part,  have  no  corporate  existence,  no  corporate  stock 
or  stockholders,  no  financial  responsibility.  They  are 
held  to  the  performance  of  their  obligations  by  no 
legal,  enforceable  ties.  The  court  of  public  opinion 
is  their  forum.  To  their  contracts  they  are  morally, 
not  legally  bound. 

LEGAL  RESPONSIBILITY  OF  EMPLOYERS. 

The  manufacturer  with  whom  they  contract  is  not  in 
so  free  a  situation.  If  he  contracts  to  employ  a  certain 
number  of  men  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  the  court 
by  its  judgment  will  award  damages  against  him  for 
breach  of  that  contract.  If  he  agrees  to  a  certain 
schedule  of  wages  he  is  legally  and  financially  respon- 
sible for  payment  according  to  that  schedule. 

If  he  agrees  to  supply  goods  at  a  certain  figure,  rely- 
ing on  the  maintenance  of  the  wage  and  the  hour 
schedule  according  to  the  agreement  with  his  men,  he 
must  supply  those  goods,  or  respond  in  damages,  even 
though  his  men  demand  and  receive  an  advance  in 
wages  which  turns  the  contract  from  the  profit  to  the 
loss  side  of  the  ledger. 

Thus  we  see  that  nev/  economic  conditions  have 
been  produced,  new  questions  have  arisen  which  must 
be      satisfactorily      settled,      new      measures      are 


234  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

proposed  which  must  be  carefully  considered  by  those 
who  know  that  they  have  vested  rights  worthy  of  pro- 
tection— capitalists  as  well  as  laborers. 

Any  fair  man  will  concede  that  in  settling  these 
questions  and  in  considering  these  measures,  those 
who  furnish  the  labor  of  capital  and  those  who  pro- 
vide the  capital  of  labor  must  start  from  some  com- 
mon point,  must  agree  upon  some  promise  and  stand 
upon  some  common  ground. 

CHANGED   CONDITIONS  OF  DEALING  BETWEEN   EMPLOYER 
AND  EMPLOYE. 

If  conditions  have  changed,  methods  of  dealing  be- 
tween employer  and  employe  have  undergone  a 
greater  change.  Craftsmen  in  a  particular  trade  are 
no  longer  treated  with  the  old,  man-to-man  individual 
way.  The  spirit  of  unionism  has  pervaded  manufac- 
turing centers  until  every  manufacturer,  whether  indi- 
vidual or  corporation,  is  obliged  in  a  great  measure 
to  treat  with  labor  in  its  unionized  form.  The  degree 
of  recognition  which  he  gives  to  the  organization,  the 
extent  to  which  he  permits  it  to  dictate  men  and  meas- 
ures to  him,  depend  largely  on  his  personal  disposi- 
tion, and  on  trade  conditions  as  they  effect  the  partic- 
ular business  in  which  he  is  engaged. 

Not  every  manufacturer  has  awakened  to  this  ine- 
quality betv/ecn  employer  and  employe  by  reason  of 
which  the  employe  has  a  stronger  position,  legally, 
than  the  employer, 


kESPONSlBILlTV    lisr    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  2^5 

To  the  manufacturer  whose  mechanics  are  employed 
for  no  definite  time,  who  are  paid  wages  which  are 
not  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  a  union,  whose 
affairs  are  not  entangled  in  a  maze  of  contractual  rela- 
tions with  his  employes — in  short,  to  the  manufac- 
turer who  operates  on  old-time  methods  the  question  of 
labor  contracts  lacks  interest. 

MUTUALITY  OF  RESPONSIBILITY   OF  VITAL   IMTGRTANCE. 

But  to  those  whose  methods  and  conditions  are  as 
up-to-date  as  the  goods  they  turn  out,  to  those  who  are 
obliged  to  rely  on  tini-lateral  contracts  for  labor,  and 
who  are  legally,  as  well  as  morally  bound  to  fulfill 
to  the  letter  their  own  contracts  for  labor  material 
and  delivery  of  goods,  the  question  of  mutuality  of 
remedy  in  labor  contracts  is  of  vital  interest.  Vital, 
because  upon  the  scale  of  wages  and  hours  as  agreed 
to  by  his  men,  he  plans  his  season's  work,  makes  con- 
tracts for  delivery  at  a  specified  price,  and  meets  the 
competition  of  keen  and  powerful  competitors;  vital, 
because  upon  the  faithful  carrying  out  of  these  obli- 
gations depends  his  business  reputation  and  commer- 
cial standing. 

Says  an  eminent  author:  "In  all  the  relations  of 
social  life,  its  good  order  and  prosperity  depend  upon 
the  due  fulfillment  of  the  contracts  which  bind  all  to 
all." 

If  we  lived  in  Utopia,  if  every  man's  word  was  as 
good  as  his  bond,  if  disputes  were  always  settled  ami- 


:236        Responsibility  in  labor  Contracts. 

cably,  and  a  moral  obligation  was  as  certain  of  enforce- 
ment as  a  legal  one,  "if,"  as  the  same  author  says,  "all 
contracts  were  carried  into  effect,  the  law  would  have 
no  office  but  that  of  instructor  or  advisor.  It  is  be- 
cause they  are  not  all  carried  into  effect,  and  it  is  that 
they  may  be  carried  into  effect,  that  the  law  exercises 
a  compulsory  power.  Hence  is  the  necessity  of  law ; 
and  the  well-being  of  society  depends  upon,  and  may 
be  measured  by,  the  degree  in  which  the  law  con- 
strues and  interprets  all  contracts  wisely,  eliminating 
from  them  whatever  is  of  fraud  or  error  or  otherwise 
wrongful,  and  carrying  them  out  into  their  full  and 
proper  effect  and  execution." 

SUFFICIENT  CONSIDERATION  LEGALLY  BINDING. 

Hold  these  labor  contracts  up  by  their  four  corners 
and,  what  do  they  mean?  D'o  they,  as  a  rule,  come 
within  the  definition  of  a  true  contract,  which  is  an 
agreement,  upoti  a  sufficient  consideration  to  do  or  not 
to  do  a  particular  thing? 

Is  it  a  sufficient  consideration  for  the  legally  enforc- 
ible  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  employer  to  hire,  for 
a  certain  period  of  time,  on  a  certain  wage  schedule, 
and  for  certain  hours,  that  the  employe  agrees  to  work 
under  that  schedule  for  that  period  of  time,  mentally 
reserving  the  right  to  violate  the  agreement  for  fancied 
grievances  of  himself  or  other  men  who  are  not  par- 
ties to  the  contract,  knowing  all  the  while  that  no 
power  on  earth  can  force  him  to  carry  out  his  part  of 
the  agreement? 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  237 

Much  has  been  said  in  these  meetings  about  arbi- 
tration, but  after  all  the  essential  element  of  a  submis- 
sion to  arbitration  is  that  it  must  be  mutually  as  bind- 
ing on  them  as  they  are  on  him ;  that  his  remedy  in 
case  of  a  breach  shall  be  as  full  and  complete  as  is 
theirs. 

Is  there  aught  unjust  or  inequitable  in  this  demand? 
Is  it  not  a  principle  that  runs  throughout  the  business 
world  that  a  contracting  party  shall  not  be  remitted 
to  the  doubtful  satisfaction  of  enforcing  his  obliga- 
tions in  the  forum  of  morals?  Is  not  the  contractor 
who  agrees  to  build  a  house  for  a  certain  price,  obliged 
to  give  bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  con- 
tract; are  not  all  other  contracts  entered  into  with 
and  because  of  the  knowledge  that  the  law  gives  an 
effective  remedy  in  case  of  non-performance? 

STRIKES  SHOULD  BE  AVOIDED. 

We  will  all  agree  that  strikes  should  be  avoided  if 
possible;  that  a  maintenance  of  peaceable  and  amica- 
ble relations  between  employer  and  employe  is  highly 
to  be  desired. 

But,  unfortunately,  strikes  do  occur,  disastrous  to 
the  community  whether  successful  or  unsuccessful. 

An  analysis  of  a  table  published  in  a  recent  maga- 
zine article  by  a  learned  student  of  labor  questions,  the 
United  States  Commission  of  Labor,  shows  that  in 
the  past  twenty  years,  over  one  hundred  and  seventeen 
thousand  strikes  have  occurred  in  the  United  States, 
three-fourths    of   which    were   in   the    manufacturing 


238  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

States  of  Illinois,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Ohio  and 
Pennsylvania.  About  fifty  per  cent  of  those  strikes 
have  succeeded,  fourteen  per  cent  have  practically  suc- 
ceeded and  the  remaining  thirty-six  per  cent  have 
failed.  But  26.7  per  cent  of  these  strikes  were  for 
increase  of  wages,  and  11.23  P^''  cent  for  increase  of 
wages  and  reduction  of  hours  of  labor. 

MUST    HAVE   A    METHOD   OF    SETTLEMENT   FROM    WHICH 
THEIIE  IS   NO  LEGAL  ESCAPE. 

These  figures  show  to  me  that  labor  conditions  de- 
mand a  method  of  settlement  of  those  difficulties  which 
are  beyond  adjustment  in  the  factory,  which  method 
shall  be  fair  to  the  employer  as  well  as  to  the  employe, 
and  from  the  result  of  which  there  shall  be  no  legal 
escape.  Is  the  time  ripe  for  this?  I  think  it  is. 
Unionists  may  say,  "Trust  to  the  good  faith  and  fair 
dealing  of  the  man."  The  employer  has  an  equal 
right  to  say :  "Disband  your  unions  and  trust  to  the 
good  faith  and  fair  dealing  of  your  employer."  That 
latter  course  has  been  rejected  by  the  unions ;  rejected 
when  every  manufacturer  is  financially  able  to  respond 
in  damages  for  any  violation  of  contract  of  employ- 
ment. Beyond  question,  unionism  either  in  its  pres- 
ent or  a  modified  form  is  a  permanent  thing.  We  can 
never  go  back  to  old  conditions.  We  must  deal  with 
matters  as  they  are.  Should  not  the  manufacturer 
be  placed  in  as  advantageous  a  position,  legally,  as  his 
employes?  Is  he  not  entitled  to  as  fair  treatment  by 
the  public  as  is  accorded  the  men  he  employs  ? 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  239 

Interest  will  always  to  a  greater  or  a  less  extent, 
determine  mental  attitude.  No  one  of  ns  is  or  can  be 
entirely  free  from  bias.  Many  incipient  strikes  are  set- 
tled in  the  work-shop,  but  it  is  not  always  possible 
to  do  this.  It  is  manifestly  impossible  for  the  manu- 
facturer and  his  employes  to  take  the  same  view  of 
labor  disputes  and  unionism.  Like  all  other  disputes 
arising  from  contractual  relations  three  methods  of 
settlement  by  third  and  disinterested  parties  may  be 
used.  First :  Voluntary  arbitration ;  second,  compul- 
sory arbitration;  third,  appeal  to  the  courts. 

BONDS   OF   STEEL   FOR    EMPLOYERS — ROPES    OF   SAND    FOR 
EMPLOYES, 

I  trust  that  it  will  not  be  deemed  presumptuous  in 
me  when  I  say  that  the  ineffectiveness  of  his  remedy 
should  deter  the  manufacturer  from  submitting  labor 
disputes  to  voluntary  arbitration  or  to  the  courts,  or 
from  acquiescing  in  compulsory  arbitration. 

In  the  classification  I  put  voluntary  arbitration  first, 
because  it  is  undoubtedly  the  most  satisfactory  method 
to  all  concerned.  Yet  in  it,  as  in  arbitration  of  any 
other  disputes,  there  must  be  a  mutual  liability,  and  an 
abiding  by  the  result.  Are  labor  unions,  as  they  are 
at  present  situated,  able  to  do  this  ?  With  a  few  excep- 
tions they  are  not.  In  a  great  number  of  cases  they 
have  not  done  so.  Why  then  should  the  employer 
consent  to  the  doing  of  an  idle  set?  Why  should 
it  be  said  of  him :     "Arbitrate,  and  if  the  result  is  sat- 


2^0  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

isfactory  to  us,  we  will  abide  by  it?"  With  whom  does 
the  employer  arbitrate?  With  9.11  incorporated  body? 
No,  with  the  men  themselves?  Strictly  speaking,  No. 
He  is  in  the  position  of  one  dealing  with  an  agent 
whose  power  of  attorney  states :  "If  the  bargain  made 
by  my  agent  is  satisfactory  to  me  this  power  of  attor- 
ney shall  stand,  otherwise,  it  is  hereby  revoked." 

Is  the  manufacturer  to  be  blamed  for  a  reluctance  to 
enter  into  an  arbitration  agreement,  for  a  disinclination 
to  chain  his  hands  with  bonds  of  steel,  while  the  oppos- 
ing parties  are  bound  with  a  rope  of  sand  ? 

COMPULSORY  ARBITRATION. 

Much  of  the  time  of  the  preceding  meetings  has  been 
taken  up  in  the  discussion  of  compulsory  arbitration. 
I  have  heard  courts  of  compulsory  arbitration  called 
courts  without  jurisdiction  and  without  sheriffs  to  en- 
force their  decrees. 

A  lawyer  grown  gray  in  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, once  said  that  arbitration  was  the  means  of 
postponing  litigation  long  enough  for  the  litigants  to 
have  enough  to  pay  attorney  fees  and  costs  of  suit. 
Compulsory  arbitration  is  doubtless  upon  the  theory 
that  the  interests  of  the  public  are  such  that  the  pub- 
lic peace  and  comfort  demand  that  conflicts  between 
capital  and  labor  be  settled  by  a  theoretically  impartial 
board  of  arbitrators.  Yet  this  compulsory  arbitration 
is,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  manufacturer,  ineflfective. 
Ineffective  because  mutuality  of  remedy  is  absent  from 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  24I 

this  as  from  all  other  methods  of  settlement.  Who  is 
to  be  hauled  before  such  a  board,  to  answer  to  its  de- 
mands. The  individual  members  of  the  union?  That 
is  impracticable  in  the  extreme.  The  labor  union  it- 
self? It  has  no  legal  entity.  Why  then  should  the 
employer,  able  and  liable  as  he  is  to  carry  out  the  find- 
ing of  the  court  of  arbitration  be  obliged  to  submit 
to  its  determination  when  as  to  his  opponent  in  tht 
hearing,  the  board  can  do  little  more  than  recommend 
a  course  to  be  followed  ? 

COURTS  HAVE  NO  ENFORCIBLE  REMEDY  FOR   EMPLOYERS. 

The  third  method  is  an  appeal  to  the  courts,  and  yet 
when  the  appeal  is  made,  when  the  hearing  is  had, 
when  both  parties  have  been  represented  by  council 
and  weight  of  the  arguments,  pro  and  con,  considered 
by  judges  learned  in  the  law,  what  remedy  can  the 
court  give  the  employer  for  a  violation  of  a  labor  con- 
tract? The  employe's  remedy  is  enforced  by  attachment 
or  execution  or  the  process  of  contempt,  but  the  em- 
ployer has  no  such  rights. 

I  am  not  recommending  the  specific  performance  of 
labor  contracts.  Even  if  our  law  could  be  so  amended 
as  to  authorize  this,  I  would  be  very  loath  to  see  such 
a  principle  announced.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  an 
unwilling  workman  is  of  little  value,  the  specific  en- 
forcement of  a  contract  for  labor  would  result  in  vir- 
tual slavery,  in  the  enforcement  of  contracts  entered 
into,  improvidence,  ignorance  or  necessity. 


'2^2  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

The  elimination  and  rightful  rejection  of  this  rem- 
edy leaves  a  court  without  the  proper  means  of  giving 
the  employer  a  remedy  should  he  succeed  in  an  appeal 
to  the  courts,  and  this  method  like  the  two  previously 
discussed  we  must  agree  is  impolitic  and  unwise  for 
the  employer. 

PRACTICAL  DIFFICULTIES. 

As  I  have  already  said  I  have  considered  this  sub- 
ject as  a  manufacturer,  an  employer  of  labor  who 
knows  the  practical  difficulties  under  which  the  em- 
ployer contracts  with  his  men.  In  the  works  I  repre- 
sent, we  endeavor,  by  a  just  and  fair  treatment  of  our 
employes,  to  prevent  strikes,  to  assure  promotion  to 
the  deserving  and  to  reduce  the  number  of  discharges 
to  the  minimum. 

If  I  were  a  lawyer,  I  might  be  able  to  suggest  some 
plan  by  which  the  parties  to  labor  contracts  might  have 
an  equal  responsibility  and  a  mutuality  of  remedy. 
Being  only  a  business  men,  I  leave  the  discussion  of 
the  constitutional  questions  and  legal  difficulties  to 
those  whose  training  and  experience  best  qualify  them 
to  deal  with  the  situation. 

Amateur  students  of  industrial  and  economic  ques- 
tions may  suggest  a  thousand  and  one  solutions :  ultra- 
radical unionists  may  scout  the  conclusions  to  which  I 
have  come ;  manufacturers  who  will  not  open  their  eyes 
to  the  conditions  of  the  present,  may  desire  to  go  on  in 
the  haphazard   way  we  have   follov/ed   in    the    past. 


RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS.  243 

Whether  a  system  of  bonuses  to  be  paid  employes  who 
stay  for  the  period  of  their  contracts  will  affect  the 
desired  end  is  open  for  question.  Whether  the  incor- 
poration of  labor  unions  will  solve  the  problem  is  a 
matter  for  careful  consideration  and  judicial  determin- 
ation. 

LABOR   MUST  ASSUME  RESPONSIBILITY. 

I  am  convinced  that  labor  will  never  possess  the  dig- 
nity that  rightfully  belongs  to  it  until  it  assumes  the 
responsibility  it  demands  of  its  employer. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  whether  or  not  such  an 
assumption  of  a  plain  business  duty  would  benefit  or 
damage  the  employer  or  hold  the  employe  more  firmly 
to  his  obligation.  The  question  is  one  of  public  policy, 
of  public  benefit.  Whatever  tends  to  make  labor  and 
capital  respect  one  another,  whatever  results  in  the  set- 
tlement of  their  disputes  as  peaceably  as  other  civil 
disputes  are  settled,  is  a  positive  benefit  to  the  com- 
munity and  a  blessing  to  mankind. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  idea  of  increased  and  cer- 
tain responsibility  on  the  part  of  the  labor  unions  and 
the  laborer  foreign  to  the  principles  of  Democracy. 

PUBLIC    WELFARE   SUPERIOR   TO    PRIVATE    RIGHTS. 

Every  day  we  see  private  rights  invaded  for  the  pub- 
lic good.  Under  the  right  of  eminent  domain,  water  is 
condemned  to  the  use  of  a  municipality  and  the  '"just 
compensation"  therefore  fixed  by  jurymen  who  may 


244  RESPONSIBILITY    IN    LABOR    CONTRACTS. 

be  residents  of  the  city  for  which  the  water  is  being 
acquired.  Taxes  are  levied  and  their  collection 
enforced  by  sale  of  the  property  on  the  theory  that  the 
property,  whether  productive  or  not,  should  bear  its 
proportion  of  the  expenses  of  government.  A  sewer 
is  laid  or  a  street  is  paved,  and  the  real  property  within 
a  certain  district  is  assessed  to  pay  the  costs  and 
expenses  of  the  work,  although  some  of  the  property 
affected  by  the  assessment  may  actually  receive  no  ben- 
efit. The  structural  strength  of  one's  house  is  regu- 
lated ;  acts  which  are  not  in  themselves  violations  of 
the  moral  law  are  prohibited  under  the  broad  prin- 
ciple of  police  power,  and  the  citizen  who  is  made 
to  feel  the  weight  of  the  law,  may  not,  perhaps,  except 
theoretically,    be    benefited    by    its    enforcement. 

All  these  things  are  done,  we  are  told,  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  public  welfare  is  superior  to  private  right ; 
that  the  interest,  the  necessity  or  the  convenience  of  the 
public  Inquires  that  the  liberty  of  the  individual  to  do 
with  his  own  as  he  likes  must  be  restricted. 

Is  it  not  then,  equally  necessary  for  the  employer  of 
labor  to  be  protected  in  his  bona-fide  contracts,  to  be 
placed  on  the  same  footing  as  his  employes? 

Can  the  state  in  fairness,  say  to  the  employer :  "You 
may  agree  on  arbitration,  but  it  is  an  empty  form ; 
we  may  by  law  force  you  to  arbitrate,  but  no  relief 
can  the  board  give  you  if  you  succeed.  You  may  resort 
to  law,  but  the  only  enforcible  decree  the  court  can 
give  is  one  against  you," 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND 
CAPITAL. 


W.      E.      m'ewEN,     secretary-treasurer     MINNESOTA 
FEDERATION  OF   LABOR. 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND 
CAPITAL. 


BY    W.    E.    M  EWEN,    SECRETARY-TREASURER,    MINNESOTA 
FEDERATION    OF    LABOR,    DULUTH,    MINN. 


What  the  future  relations  of  labor  to  capital  will 
be,  is  largely  theoretical.  Perhaps  I  have  chosen  this 
subject  for  the  reason  that  I  am  an  enthusiastic  advo- 
cate of  labor,  and  one  of  the  foibles  of  the  ordinary 
so-called  labor  agitator  is  to  be  extremely  visionary. 
Time,  experience  and  responsibility,  however,  serve  to 
moderate  the  thoughtful  student  and  worker  in  the 
cause  of  labor.  Every  person  who  holds  an  execu- 
tive position  in  an  organization  of  labor  must  sooner 
or  later  learn  that  in  order  to  be  successful  himself 
and  to  insure  the  permanency  of  his  organization,  he 
must  be  practicable  in  his  plans,  logical  in  his  argu- 
ments, and  absolutely  fair  and  consistent  in  his  under- 
takings. There  is  no  place  in  the  up-to-date  interna- 
tional trade  organization  for  an  impracticable  leader. 
What  the  workingman  desires  in  his  organization  is 
immediate  returns  for  himself,  with  the  idea  in  view 

247 


248      FUTURE  RELATIONS   OF  LABOR  AND   CAPITAL. 

that  he   is  gradually   and   surely  securing  something 
for  his  posterity. 

TRADE  UNIONS  AND  GREAT  CORPORATIONS  HERE  TO  STAY. 

It  would  be,  indeed,  difficult  to  discuss  the  relations 
of  labor  to  capital  without  referring  to  the  efforts 
of  both  along  the  lines  of  organization. 

I  hold  that  any  effort  to  destroy  either  the  modern 
organization  of  labor,  known  as  the  trade  union,  or  the 
greater  corporations  commonly  called  the  trust,  will  be 
both  futile  and  reactionary.  Both  are  the  result  of  a 
long  period  of  growth  and  development.  Both  are  here 
to  stay  and  both  will  continue  to  develop  to  a  most 
perfect  state.  This  being  true  we  will  eventually  be 
forced  to  apply  ourselves  to  the  conditions  which  they 
create,  whether  we  like  them  or  not.  Such  gather- 
ings as  this  will  contribute  much  towards  bringing 
both  capital  and  labor  to  a  realization  of  this  fact. 

If  there  are  to  be  organizations  of  labor,  there  will 
continue  to  be  more  or  less  friction  and  strife  with 
employers  until  some  course  is  agreed  upon  that  will 
bring  them  closer  together.  The  right  of  labor  to 
organize  is  generally  conceded.  The  present  trade 
union,  while  not  perfect,  is  a  great  improvement  over 
that  of  even  a  decade  ago.  Behind  it  is  a  century  of 
experience,  with  its  blunders  and  shortcomings ;  its 
enlightenment  and  achievements.  It  marks  the  or- 
derly rise  and  development  of  the  wealth  producing 
classes  through  the  evolutionary,  educational  process. 
Its  methods  and  results  stand  out  in  bold  relief  when 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.  249 

contrasted   with  the  revolutionary  eccentric  methods 
applied  by  the  reactionary  enthusiast. 

It  is  the  logical  refuge  of  the  producing  classes,  and 
leads  straight  to  the  fulfillment  of  labors,  hopes  and 
anticipations. 

ORGANIZATION    THE    LOGICAL    RESULT    OP    COMMERCIAL 
STRIFE. 

The  trade  unions,  as  I  have  said,  are  here  to  staj. 
As  their  influence  becomes  greater,  they  will  become 
more  of  a  factor  in  industrial  affairs,  and  it  will  be 
necessary  to  deal  with  them  for  the  insurance  of  indus- 
trial peace.  On  the  other  hand  the  organization  of 
capital  on  the  present  "Community  of  Interests"  plan 
is  nothing  more  than  an  improvement  on  all  past 
efforts  along  the  lines  of  oreanization.  It  is  the  nat- 
ural and  logical  result  of  commercial  strife.  Its  future 
development  may  be  retarded  for  a  time  by  unfriendly 
legislation,  but  it  cannot  be  destroyed ;  it  may  be  con- 
trolled, and  the  people  may  at  some  time  decide  upon 
the  policy  of  owning  and  operating  the  industries  it 
controls,  but  this  much  may  be  said :  "There  is  little 
hope  for  returning  to  the  days  of  keen  competition,  and 
the  small  industry  as  the  factor  in  our  commercial  life. 
From  the  time  of  the  first  combination  of  either  labor 
or  capital  there  has  been  more  or  less  friction.  This 
has  grown  and  developed  at  times  to  mammoth  propor- 
tions. It  has  often  seemed  that  there  was  no  hope 
for  ever  bringing  about  a  conciliation,  and  even  if  one 

15 


250      FUTURE  RELATIONS   OF  LABOR  AND   CAPITAL. 

side  by  mere  force  compelled  an  adjustment,  there  has 
been  left  behind  a  chasm  that  has  seemed  impossible 
to  bridge. 

LABOR   AND    CAPITAL — IDENTICAL    IN    NATURE — DIFFER- 
ENT IN  FORM — BOTH   HAVE  RIGHTS. 

Ignorance  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  difficulties 
of  the  past;  not  that  kind  of  ignorance  that  is  defined 
as  illiteracy,  but  each  has  appeared  to  be  uninformed 
of  the  troubles,  the  griefs  and  the  worries  of  the  other. 
Often  have  I  heard  both  sides  of  a  difficulty  when  it 
seemed  that  each  had  reasonable  ground  for  com- 
plaint. 

This  emanated  from  the  cause  that  there  was  too 
great  distance  between  them.  Some  argue  that  the 
relations  of  the  employe  and  employer  are  not,  and 
cannot  be  identical.  I  am  of  the  opinion,  however, 
that  while  there  have  been  frequent  hostile  relations, 
it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  there  cannot  be  a 
reconciliation.  In  the  seeming  complexed  economic 
conditions  of  to-day  we  have  overlooked  some  fun- 
damental facts.  We  call  that  labor,  which  is  the  active 
source  of  production  whether  exerted  through  brain 
or  muscle,  and  we  must  recognize  capital  as  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  accumulated  labor.  In  other  words 
one  is  energy  and  effort  put  forth  in  the  present,  the 
other  is  the  fruit  of  such  energy  and  effort  put  forth 
in  the  past ;  while  in  their  nature,  identical,  their  having 
assumed  diflTerent  forms  they  have  acquired  independ- 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.       25 1 

ent  rights,  and  each  must  necessarily  obey  certain 
laws  peculiar  to  itself.  These  two  forms  of  human 
energy,  labor  and  capital,  may  be  and  generally  are 
owned  by  different  persons.  One  individual  has  pres- 
ent labor  at  his  command.  This  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  must  be  his  own.  Another  has  capital 
or  accumulated  labor.  This  may  be  his  own  or  that 
of  others  of  which  he  has  come  into  possession.  In  a 
healthy  economic  condition  of  affairs  the  two  forms  of 
labor  must  come  together  and  help  each  other,  other- 
wise both  must  languish  and  die.  We  have  in  the  last 
few  years  reached  a  stage  in  human  history  at  which 
it  became  necessary  to  define  in  a  practical  way  the 
status,  rights,  duties  and  immunities  of  these  two 
producers,  labor  and  cap'tal.  Let  me  note  here  that 
I  distinguish  between  capital  and  wealth:  Capital  is 
that  portion  of  wealth  employed  in  reproduction.  The 
distinction  involved  is  an  important  one.  All  capital 
is  wealth,  but  all  wealth  is  not  capital.  The  very  use 
of  the  term  "reproduction"  testifies  to  the  feeling  of 
man  that  the  object  of  anything  is  not  fulfilled  in  its 
own  creation  or  perfection,  but  that  there  is  an  end- 
less series  of  propagations,  with  a  constant  view  and 
with  increasing  force  to  some  ulterior  end. 

WEALTH    IS    NOT  PRODUCTIVE   CAPITAL. 

A  man  may  have  much  wealth,  and  use  little  capital. 
Wealth  is  as  it  is  had ;  capital  as  it  is  used.  For  exam- 
ple, a  man  may  live  in  a  house  worth  thirty  thousand 


252      FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 

dollars  and  have  ten  thousand  dollars  invested  in  a 
ship,  from  which  he  derives  all  his  support,  and  which 
forms  his  capital.  It  may  be  asked,  Is  not  the  house 
itself  capital?  It  is,  so  far  as  necessary  to  produc- 
tion in  sheltering  the  producer  and  his  family,  even 
with  the  style  and  comfort  usual  to  such  a  degree  of 
society.  Beyond  this  it  ceases  to  be  capital.  It  is  de- 
voted, not  to  the  creation  of  values,  but  to  personal  en- 
joyment and  culture;  noble  and  worthy  ends 
for  wealth  but  not  for  capital.  There  is  much 
of  the  wealth  of  the  world  which  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  classify  whether  as  capital  or  not,  much 
in  which  the  two  ends  unite,  much  in  which  the  share 
devoted  to  reproduction  is  doubtful.  Still,  this  casts 
no  discredit  on  the  distinction  itself,  which  stands  man- 
ifest to  all. 

LABOR   AND    CAPITAL   SHOULD    DIVIDE   THE   RESULTS   OF 
INDUSTRY. 

Labor  and  capital  have  been  antagonists.  There 
has  been  much  folly  in  this  antagonism.  They  are 
partners  and  should  divide  the  results  of  industry  in 
good  faith  and  in  good  feeling.  False  philosophy,  or 
unprincipled  politics,  may  alienate  their  interests,  and 
set  them  at  discord.  Capitalists  may  encroach  on  labor. 
Laborers  may  in  their  madness,  destroy  capital.  Such 
is  the  work  of  ignorance  and  evil  passions.  However 
far  such  strife  may  be  carried,  it  must  result  in  mutual 
injuries,  and  health  can  only  be  restored  by  obtaining 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.       253 

the  recognition  of  the  full  rights  and  obligations  of 
each.  The  condition  of  well-being  is  peace.  A  false 
philosophy  has  set  the  world  at  war  for  ages,  pro- 
claiming that  what  one  nation  may  gain,  another  must 
lose. 

It  has  been  said  that  hatred  and  retaliation  are 
the  normal  relations  of  capital  to  labor,  and  that  mu- 
tual distrust  and  hurtfulness  are  inevitable  in  all  the 
developments  of  industry.  Such  a  belief  is  sightless 
before  the  glorious  order  of  man  and  nature.  The 
cruel,  shallow  selfishness  of  capital  has  robbed  labor 
by  means  of  law;  and  labor,  impoverished  and  de- 
graded has  often  turned  upon  its  tyrant. 

GREAT  REFORMS  REQUIRE  TIME  FOR  DEVELOPMENT. 

A  man  of  very  ordinary  powers  of  penetration  must 
see  as  he  looks  into  the  future  that  both  labor  and  capi- 
tal will  reap  a  rich  harvest  of  happy  conditions  from 
the  efforts  at  adjustment  now  in  progress.  When  we 
come  to  reflect  upon  conditions  as  they  were  in  the 
centuries  that  are  not  so  very  far  past,  we  have  great 
cause  for  rejoicing  at  the  progress  already  made.  The 
conception  that  the  common  people  had  any  rights 
the  plutocracy  was  bound  to  respect  originated  with 
the  sentiment  that  developed  into  the  founding  of  the 
American  Republic,  and  the  adjustment  of  the  respec- 
tive rights  of  labor  and  capital  followed  as  a  corollary 
of  that  conception.  The  progress  made  has  been  truly 
wonderful  compared  with  the  magnitude  of  the  under- 
taking.    Great  reforms  when  prosecuted  along  moral 


254       FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 

and  intellectual  lines  require  time  for  their  develop- 
ment. The  process  of  adjustment  is  complicated  and 
extensive.  Both  capital  and  labor  need  training  and 
discipline  in  the  methods  of  bringing  them  together. 
It  is  a  source  of  gratification  to  know  that  there  is  a 
general  desire  on  the  part  of  the  public  and  many 
employers  of  labor  to  conciliate  these  two  forces.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  prevailing  sentiment  of 
the  day  is  due  largely  to  the  efforts  of  the  workers 
in  the  pressing  of  their  claims  with  such  force  of  logic 
that  even  the  most  selfish  and  critical  cannot  resist 
them. 

The  fact  that  labor  will  not  surrender  its  right  to 
strike  ought  not  be  an  impediment  on  the  efforts  to 
bring  about  conciliation,  any  more  than  the  refusal 
of  the  nations  to  abolish  war  in  order  that  international 
peace  may  be  established.  The  successful  relations 
between  capital  and  labor  will  in  the  future  depend 
largely  on  the  moral  eflforts  of  the  parties. 

Trades  unions  are  doing  considerable  along  this  line. 
The  systematic  effort  for  the  complete  organization 
of  labor  is  having  a  telling  effect  upon  the  character, 
methods  and  policy  of  the  individual  worker. 

LABOR   MOVEMENT  DEMANDS  CALM,  WISE  AND  CAREFUL 
LEADERSHIP. 

As  I  said  in  the  beginning,  the  trades  unions  mark 
the  orderly  rise  of  the  wealth  producers  through  an 
educational  process.     There  is  a  gradual  development 


FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL.       255 

in  the  intellect,  intelligence  and  reasoning  power  of 
the  members,  which  is  steadily  manifesting  itself.  The 
movement  of  labor  is  demanding  calm,  wise  and  care- 
ful leadership.  Men  of  tact  and  ability  are  sought 
as  leaders,  in  order  that  they  may  successfully  deal 
with  the  able  representatives  of  the  employers.  This 
kind  of  leadership  will  command  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  the  people,  whose  opinion  will  ever  have 
much  to  do  with  the  conciliatory  attitude  of  both  capi- 
tal and  labor.  I  have  often  thought  that  in  the  devel- 
opment of  industries  more  attention  should  be  given 
to  the  interests  of  labor.  There  was  a  time  when  large 
corporations  gloried  in  fighting  personal  damage 
suits,  just  as  some  of  them  to-day  seem  to  enjoy 
opposing  strikes.  Since  then  the  Claim  Department 
has  been  added,  and  every  reasonable  efifort  is  made  to 
settle  a  personal  damage  suit  without  entering  into 
costly  legal  engagements.  The  claim  agents  of  a 
corporation  are  chosen  because  of  their  peculiar  tact 
in  dealing  with  men.  Possibly  an  industrial  depart- 
ment on  the  same  plan  as  the  claim  department  would 
be  of  considerable  service  in  the  settling  of  all  differ- 
ences with  labor.  It  would  not  be  a  cure-all  for 
strikes,  but  it  would  undoubtedly  tend  to  diminish 
them.  A  mining  superintendent  of  the  United  States 
Steel  Corporation,  in  a  conversation  not  long  ago  said 
to  me:  "The  time  has  gone  by  when  we  can  drive 
men.  It  will  not  be  long  when  the  men  who  can  deal 
with  them  most  satisfactorily  will  command  the  high- 
est salaries  from  great  corpiorations." 


256      FUTURE  RELATIONS  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 

As  the  trades'  unions  will  continue  to  grow  in  power, 
and  with  this  growth  they  will  press  their  demands 
for  recognition,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  would  be  a 
greater  assurance  of  contentment  could  they  deal  with 
some  one  directly  in  authority,  who  made  it  a  business 
to  study  the  conditions  of  the  employes,  such  as  the 
present  managers  have  not  the  time  to  do.  All  men 
with  an  honest  purpose  intend  to  be  fair.  Many  difii 
culties  have  been  prolonged  by  misunderstandings  and 
mock  pride.  The  main  idea  should  be  to  see  that  each 
has  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  other's  conditions 
and  needs.  This  can  best  be  secured  by  close  com- 
munication. 

Everything  indicates  that  the  future  relations  will 
be  more  pleasant  than  during  the  immediate  past.  We 
can  all  be  of  some  service  in  hastening  the  day  when 
capital  and  labor  will  know  not  injustice  or  enmity. 


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